We went on a pre-baby date, vaguely aware our life was about to change
for good, never the same, an entirely different structure waiting for us.

I remember it so vividly: sitting next to you in the darkened theater,
watching an animated film and crying while laughing
at the misfit love the heartbeat of its story—
the same kind of unexpected love as ours.
Popcorn butter stained my shirt, stretched to its limit,
my belly eight months full of her,
fear brushing the edges of my heart as I faced becoming a mother.

We were kids up until we had her—
immature in beautiful, naïve ways.
I love who we were then,
and I’m in love with who we are now.
That small, glowing sphere of a moment became us—
who we were meant to become
and who we continue to grow into.

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