Sam's Identity

I am having a bittersweet moment right now. This morning, Sam played with a little girl named Melia (pronounced Ma-Lee-uh). They had a fantastic time together and played really well.

I'll boast about my child for just a second here. You can skip this paragraph if you want. Sam is extremely generous. I am positive it's not because of anything Bill or I have done with him, but he always wants to share his toys and will almost always immediately give a toy to another child if I ask him to. I have to be careful about this though, because sometimes he just needs to hold on to it and play with it for himself, instead of always giving everything away. He really loves being with other children. Older, younger, it doesn't matter. He likes showing off his toys, as every child does, and pulls out toys he's not even interested in when new folks arrive.

Well, our playdate with Melia went really well this morning. She's about six months older than Sam and about two inches taller. She's a beautiful toe-headed little girl, who's curious and articulate and fun to interact with (for me and Sam). She also liked the omelet I made, so I was sold.

Melia is a heart baby too. That's where the title of this post, "Sam's Identity" comes into play. Sam has shown off his belly to anyone we ask him to and to a few we haven't asked him to. This morning, I asked him to show his belly to Melia and her face lit up. She has a "zipper" too. She showed hers to Sam and he glanced at first, then realized something was different. He inspected her belly and then ran his finger along her scar, ending at her JP tube scar. His finger felt it and he said, "ohhhh." Unfortunately, Sam was in a onsie, so I decided to undo it to give him a little more flexibility in sharing his own scar.

He lifted up his shirt, looked at his belly then at Melia. He said, "zipper too" as he lifted her shirt up again.

What a moment. My eyes are filled with tears right now.

Sam really has a heart buddy. Someone who shares the same perfect whitening of her skin as he has, in a long line down her chest. My mind jumped to years from now as they will always have this scar to share between them, and they will each know the unfortunate difficulties that come with it. He's not alone. Neither are we, as the parents.

What a blessing, but how sad. Sam just realized that he's got something that many of us don't. He's got a zipper. But, fortunately for us, Melia has a zipper too. And they found each other.