Very little compares to the smell of a newborn baby
And mothers from time immemorial have breathed it in too
A new series of short stories set in the deep past but inspired by small moments in my own life: seeking to illuminate mundane moments like these lost to the mists of time. These are intended to be little vignettes of every day life: small moments that don't warrant a whole narrative but are the substance of our experience of life on this earth.
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There is very little that compares to the smell of a newborn baby.
How might one describe it? Cosy, warm, comforting, safe, snuggly. How can a smell be warm? And yet, the tiny bundle does smell warm, and smells of love. A love hard to articulate with words (even for those who didn’t feel the famous immediate pang of love upon meeting their little one).
Sat in her earthen home, this new mother holds her baby close to her, tight to her body. He wriggles a little in protest, lets out a croak, before nuzzling into the crook of her elbow, his safe spot. He is wrapped in layers of linen and wool, protected against the harsh march of winter by carefully woven fabrics. Leaning into him, her lips brush his soft, downy hair as she inhales his warmth, a precious moment of stillness for the two of them to be one once more.
Unlike those who would come after her, this mother had no new crib for her bearn, no toys, no machines to protect her against some of the harsh realities of early parenthood. No, her home was simple and bare, empty one might say. She and her husband owned few material possessions: a mattress laid on the rush-covered floor, burdened withe heavy blankets; a handful of metal cooking pots and ceramic vessels; a little wooden stool. Her baby would sleep with them curled up in his safe spot, the crook of her elbow, finding her breost when he was hungry or needed comfort. The three of them would lie there together each night, listening to the wind’s journeys and the cry of the owls, drinking in their blessings in their simple home.