Abraham,
You are walking now. Your Mom and I stand at opposite ends of the kitchen and encourage you to walk-trundle-tumble between us, back and forth. Every trip you make across that floor aches in me. How long I have waited for for this, to see you walking, standing tall and ready on your own sweet feet.

I used to sing this song to you at night when you couldn't sleep. I never wrote another verse, I just kept singing this one over and over, a little prayer for your feet:

I roar like a lion,
Everyday I keep on trying
I will walk and I will run
I will meet you on the sun.

We have just returned from a trip to Atlanta, to get treatment for your club feet. These trips are like minor earthquakes. There are days of preparations, with menus contemplated, revised, and then executed with great care. The car overflows with bags, snacks, toys and makeshift bedding on loan from friends. In hotel rooms we rig up a tent for you, hung from bad paintings bolted to the wall. We have a very strict schedule of meals and naps all organized around a series of appointments.

Your feet are good. Now that you are walking in braces, you are doing a lot to make things right. Your Mom and I spend time everyday massaging and moving your feet. This last trip to Atlanta taught us new things to do to help your stride and joint flexion. We know about bones in the foot and myofascial release. We are all doing better with this path than the last.

Once we were done with treatment, we went to the Georgia Aquarium. Kids on their spring vacation from school made the walls vibrate. You rode on our backs and shoulders and took everything in. You made the sign for “fish” over and over again, like waving to everyone. There was space enough for you get down on the floor and explore at the coral reef tank, with shark infested waves breaking over our heads. Every fish you saw was more beautiful than the last.

That night we found delicious Thai food, sadly missing since leaving Portland. You had some of my curry and flirted with the waitresses, earning yourself a free scoop of coconut ice cream. Such sweets are generally frowned upon by the management, but you got to have a few spoonfuls, with some sticky rice and mango. This turned out to be the best night of sleep any of us have had since the day you were born.

Pa-