nirali, nila, rivkah. lovely, melodic rivkah. yet, i keep thinking of her as a boy. i've thought of her as a boy from the time she was born. i even call her Bablu. she's like a little scruffy boy baby, a little jayanth.
but tonight, when i finished nursing her and kissed her in the dark, I saw her right ear, tiny and light and lavender-baby-smelling. I saw on it, a earring. a earring that would mean piercing, which would mean pain, hurting her, a white scalloped girl-baby-dress, a moment of our shared girl-hoods--mine over, hers not yet begun-- resting yet, like her, and sealed by a tiny white pearl sedate on her ear-lobe. that's when i thought, "i have a girl!" a girl named rivkah. a girl with a pearl earring that is too small to see.