I did not know how instantly entangled I'd be in my affection for a creature that is virtually a stranger to me. Somewhere, inside of this little vessel of humanity, there is my blood, or the blood, at least, I share with others. But that connection is so tenuous it shouldn't at all matter. Yet the first moment of meeting, I was slapped by the love and affection I have for this child.

It doesn't know me. Cannot, perhaps, distinguish me yet from his mother, though we are so similar. Yet there is comfort in knowing that when I am holding him, he is calm. And there is comfort in knowing that I am not so different, not so strange that he is anguished by my presence.

It is a love unbeknown to me before now. It is a love I cannot explain. Yet it is a connection so deep that I can not pull away from it, even if I was foolish enough or evil enough to allow it.

It has me rooted to the present. It has me joyous for the future. Each day is a new day for him, but with more discernable changes. The changes in him we can see; the changes in us, we cannot. Yet haven't we all changed? Haven't our hearts grown more, our minds filled with more amazement? I wonder how aware he is of the complete way he has changed us all.

I'm no longer a sister now. No longer a daughter, a cousin, a wife, or sister-in-law. Now I am an aunty. The satisfaction in that fills me with pride, but not ego.