**I wrote this piece for two reasons: To wish my daughter Maya a Happy 7th Birthday (yay!) and to promote autism awareness in our own GS community..**


24 hours exactly..
She decided to reveal
Those eyes..
Embracing my heart--
Parading thoughts
Of how I'd teach her
How to take her
First steps..
Repetitions of
A-B-C and 1-2-3
She'd say to me
"I did it Mommy!"
Loving every moment
She poured her
Innocent heart through
The funnel of emotions
Summed up in
"I love you Maya"..

*************

Until the age of 3,
Sign language
Became our first forms
Of communication..
The situation was
-- Autism --
Dampening
My spirit at first
...Me...
Thinking she was
{{Intrinsically Cursed..}}
But how wrong my
Finite mind would prove itself
To be..
Her beautiful mind
Revealed itself through
Artisitc and Intellectual
Blessings that she
Embodied..
Such class this girl has..
Way beyond a 7 year old's
Interpretation of
The world..
A not so innocent world
She came to ultimately know..
Fundamentally different from
The meticulously framed
Stage she'd call
"Maya's show"..

*************

I can't begin to describe
How hearts blossom
And hope feels so much more
Alive
When she's near...
She keeps me honest
In ways no person could
Begin to achieve with me..
I seek shelter from
Life's intrepid humidity--
And there she is..
Telling me something
I myself would never have
Concluded...
I'm 32...
She's 7...
Embodying "life mentor"..
Every morning when she smiles
At the sunrise...with
Those golden rays God calls eyes,

I'm so thankful.


Happy Birthday Sweetheart..
Mommy loves you....

em hotep