Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute,
You didn’t grow under my heart
But in it.
Written in 1952 by Fleur Conklin Heyliger for The Saturday Evening Post, it was inspired by the feelings of adoptive parents. Of course it is absolutely applicable to the situation of any "non-bio" parent.
I know there are many people out there who feel the need to pass on their genes. It is the evolutionary imperative of all living things, after all! I have never been one of those people, but I certainly hope it doesn't matter to Carrick which womb he came out of. I love him as if he was a part of me and truly hope he feels the same way and can carry the message of that poem in his heart. Always. Without a doubt.
And when the time comes to tell him about his paternity, we will be entirely honest about his midi-chlorian bio-dads!
Thank you so much to all of you for reading!
In honour of the feelings from my first post, a repeat quote:
Love shook my heart
Like the wind on the mountain
rushing over the oak trees.
— trans. Josephine Balmer, Poems & Fragments, 1984