There was probably never anything as beautiful as what lay in her arms - she was magnificent! Her little baby girl was beyond a doubt her major achievement. She knew as clearly as a crystal clear evening when stars are shining all about and you gasp in sheer awe to look at the sky above - that nothing she had ever done or would ever do could surpass the sheer glory of that moment.

She had never before truly realized what it was to give and to receive in such apt measure. Even as a child, she never had any tolerance for pain and what she had just experienced in childbirth had surely surpassed any prolonged pain that she could ever remember, but the gift that she had been given in return was far superior to anything real or imagined.

At that moment, there was no future. There was no past. There was only now. How clear the road seemed ahead. Life would revolve around this perfect small bundle. The child would know love as surely as life emanated from every ebb and flow of the tide. There would never be a sunrise flowing in glistening waves from a speck of light that grows and grows into brilliance, or a sunset sprinkled in fiery shades of gold and mauve that would not include this child.

The young woman pondered this and realized it was so. She was born for this moment. It didn't matter that Jack Frost had played his silhouette outside and that the ground was covered with freshly fallen snow. It was Thanksgiving Day, and the young mother was filled with gratitude. To her time, stood still. It wasn't possible that she could have been alive before this moment for only now did she clearly see her place in it.

The tiny fingers seemed to wrap around her hand. The perfect little mouth searched for her breast. The young mother looked outside to witness nature's grandeur - the cold had produced trees glistening with snowflakes completely carving shapes from every branch. The sidewalks were hidden from view - there was no surety on where they started or ended, nor did it matter.