Brooklyn - A Rose By Any Other Name

Day 92

Today is my niece Brooklyn’s 7th birthday--Happy Birthday Brooklyn!! Here are some excerpts from my journal entry that was written on the day of her birth:


Wednesday September 3rd, 2003

10:48pm - At around 12:27pm today Karen gave birth to a 6 pound 12 ounce 20 inch long baby…oh, and it was a baby girl!! Fantastic!! No one really knew what to expect up until the very moment, although Joshua later stated that he knew he was going to have a sister. Josh and Karen had anticipated the possibility that they would have a daughter, so they had narrowed the choice of a name down to 2 selections: McKayla or Brooklyn. The latter was obviously the choice, but the full name was a slight surprise: Brooklyn Rose. For awhile now it had been assumed that regardless of what the first name would be, the middle name would be Joy, in honor of Karen, which is only fair since Josh gave his middle name to Joshua. But we were all in the dark over this, as Karen and Josh had made up their minds about the middle name some time ago. Rose was inspired by Karen witnessing an array of roses at a friend’s baby shower…

…Josh eased his daughter into my arms, and I was so taken in by this most beautiful child. I noticed how dark Brooklyn’s hair was, not to mention the fact that for a newborn she certainly had a great amount of hair! Her skin was a very healthy pink, with a minor scratch on her face. Gosh, she was so precious, just sleeping in my arms. I didn’t want the moment to end, but visiting hours were quickly ending, and it wouldn’t have been fair to monopolize so much time with Karen, when she undoubtedly felt tired/exhausted and probably just wanted to take a nap…

…It was so strange to realize that the big day had come and gone. I hope to see more of Brooklyn. Jordan and I had a poignant moment when we each got to hold our niece. Jordan confided to me that he was on the verge of crying - I could relate to that!