I’d forgotten how small a newborn was. She weighed at most, eight and a half pounds. When the sun broke between two clouds and hits us, she scrunched up her face until it looked like a head of cabbage, her tight fists covering her eyes. Then her fists fell away and her face un-scrunched and her eyes opened. They were the color of good scotch, and they looked up at me with solid wonder. They didn’t just ask ‘who are you?’ They asked ‘what are you?’ ‘what is this?’ ‘where am I?’ I remembered Gabby having that look, everything was unknown and unnamed. There was no normal, no frame of reference, no language, no self-awareness. Even the concept of a concept was unknown.

–Dennis Lehane from the novel Moonlight Mile

Painting by Jaqueline  Ceder

Tags:birthconciousnessDennis LehaneexperienceJaqueline Cedermystery