March 2023 - Sunrise (G)
March 2023 – Sunrise
Holly woke up before dawn. More reliable than an alarm clock, the baby’s cries pulled her from even the deepest of slumbers at a moment’s notice. Holly could guess the hour without looking at the clock on her bedside table just by looking at her dark bedroom window. It would have been nice to sleep a little longer, but an empty belly and dirty diaper were not going to get better with time. Plus, she could hear a note of alarmed confusion in the baby’s call. Waking up to strange surroundings would surprise even a six-month-old.
Muttering a sleepy response to assure the baby that she had been heard, Holly rolled out of bed and pulled her robe over her pajamas to cut out the early spring chill. She shuffled over to the bassinette and lifted the squalling infant into her arms.
“Good morning, sweet pea,” Holly cooed, pressing kisses to her daughter’s cheeks. “Did you sleep well?”
The baby stopped crying, held safe in her mother’s arms, but she continued to fuss.
“Oh yes, you must have had good dreams, because you let me sleep all night through. Now it’s time to get you a clean butt, and then how about some breakfast?” Holly continued talking as she carried the baby into the nursery across the hall. The baby should have been sleeping in there, in a crib of her own. But with the move and the new house, Holly had decided that it might be easier for both her and the baby to transition slowly to sleeping in separate rooms. Babies and their parents were creatures of habit, and they’d spent the last six months sharing a room – a few more days wouldn’t hurt anyone.
There was a little bit of confused fumbling, as Holly tried to remember where everything was in her new nursery. The set up here was different than it had been back at her parents’ house, and the muscle memory hadn’t developed yet. A week ago she could have changed a midnight diaper with her eyes closed, but now the act of changing a diaper required more brain power than usual. But in short order, the baby was changed and dry, and fussing hungrily.
Holly opened up the curtains and settled into the rocking chair to nurse the baby. This window faced west, so she couldn’t see any hint of the coming dawn from her vantage point, but she could pick out the last few stars in the sky as she rocked slowly. Her eyes traveled around the nursery, lit up by the gentle glow of the table lamp on the dresser – a teddy bear holding onto a bunch of multicolored balloons.
Not for the first time, and likely not for the last either, Holly was stunned to remember that all of this was hers – the nursery, the house, the whole farm. A place for her to raise her daughter in communities she had fallen in love with, surrounded by friends. It was almost more than she could hope for. After spending all her life moving from one rented property to another, jumping from city to city, and even across the seas a couple times as her father’s job demanded, it still felt strange to be in a house that she owned with plans to stay there until she was old and gray.
Her daughter’s life was going to be so different from Holly’s… in so many ways.
The baby finished nursing, and though Holly was tempted to throw a blanket over the both of them and slip off to sleep for a little bit longer in the rocking chair, she got up.
“Now it’s time for my breakfast,” she informed the baby, carrying her off towards the kitchen. “What should I have today? Toast? Cereal?” The baby cooed at the second choice. “Cereal it is. And coffee, you know momma loves her coffee.”
Holly had prepared her coffee pot the night before and was grateful for her foresight when all she had to do was flip the switch. While the coffee brewed, she poured herself a bowl of cereal, and then she settled at the kitchen table with bowl and mug and the baby in her highchair, teething on a baby spoon.
Holly wiped a bit of drool from the baby’s chin as she chewed over her first bite. The times certainly were changing for the both of them. Soon enough the baby would be moving onto eating solid foods exclusively, not long after that she’d be crawling, and walking and talking, growing up right before her eyes. And Holly was starting a whole new venture at the same time. By the time the baby was walking, she hoped to be a fully-fledged farmer. It wouldn’t be an easy journey, but Holly was determined to make it work.
She had to.
For her daughter’s sake, but also for her own. She had to prove to herself and to her father that she was cut out for this farming business. She had put so much work into coming just this far over the last year, after everything she went through.
Today was her first full day on the farm. She’d been back and forth over the last week or so with Uncle Frank, waiting for the necessary utilities to be turned on before she could move in completely. After an exhausting day of finally having gas, electricity, and water and unpacking everything, it was time for Holly to spread her wings.
As she washed her breakfast dishes and poured a second cup of coffee, Holly noticed the sky was beginning to turn pink.
“Shall we watch the sunrise together, sweet pea?” She lifted the baby out of the highchair and wrapped her in a fuzzy blanket to keep the morning chill at bay.
Holly stepped out onto the porch and settled down on the front step. She looked east, but the sun wasn’t quite over the horizon, and looking straight out Holly could have a good view of her farmland, though it was still swaddled in the darkness of the night.
While she waited, Holly told the baby about all of her plans for the long-neglected farm. As the golden light of dawn broke over the horizon and through the trees bordering the land, Holly pointed to the sections of the farm as they were illuminated. There were the barns, where she would keep her livestock, and the chicken coops, where they would have fresh eggs from the chickens. Those fields there would be pasture for the sheep. Over there she would grow her textile crops. The orchard would be by the river, and here, close to the house, would be where Holly grew her own garden so they could have lost of fresh vegetables to eat, and beautiful flowers to help the bees.
The rays of the sun warmed Holly’s face and she looked out. She could see it all so clearly, even if right now it was all covered in overgrown grass and brambles. With hard work and determination, she would make her dreams come true.
Today was just the first of many.