When I think of my life before my daughter Yehudis it is a very different place as when I think of my life after Yehudis. I can still remember that moment she was born with all of her aunts and uncles and grandparents listening in on the telephone line while I was in labor. The joy that everyone felt upon her birth was truly special. Yehudis is named for our dear aunt Judy who was with out a doubt the happiest woman Robbie and I had ever come to know. Judy was always filled with great positive energy. She welcomed every person she met with tremendous joy. Even though she suffered most of the time with tremendous physical pain, she still managed to greet every person she came in contact with smiling with a joke or a hug.

Funny enough, Aunt Judy was also known for her very eclectic hippo collection. I like to think that she liked them because although they were rotund in shape and seemingly dangerous they alway have a plastered smile on their face.

When Yehudis was born she blinked at us with these sweet eyes like she was taking in the whole world with her. She was a natural smiler and has been smiling with so much grace, humility and positive energy every since.  A few days after she was born, without my mother knowing about Aunt Judy’s hippo collection, Yehudis received her very first present while I was still in the hospital from her grandmother. It was a pink Hippo. It wasn’t hard to figure out who Yehudis would be named after.

Yehudis is an avid painter. Her favorite past time is mixing colors and shades. We are lucky to have such a creative young woman in the family. I thought about what I could get Yehudis that would truly exemplify how I feel about her.

A rainbow is a significant sign in our Jewish faith. Before the flood this phenomenon was not in existence.

Only after the flood did God give Moisture the ability to rise from the earth to form clouds and raindrops, which caught the light of the sun. These newly refined droplets were finally strong enough to help channel the rays of sunlight to reveal colors. The pre-Flood world lacked the rainbow. But After the Flood, God imbued the world with a new potential—the potential to create, to take what it receives from above and develop it, extend it, and expand upon it. Much like the way my life has changed because of Yehudis’s little soul that came into my world, all new colors came into focus.  New potential was created.

Therefore I can’t think of a better gift than the one you are about to see….

I love you my little rainbow:)