Chapter 1. Arrival
It was a hot scorching day when I received the news that my daughter would be coming. After two lengthy months of waiting, my daughter had finally come home. Her expression was blank and vacant; the bistre eyes stared expressionlessly into the ceiling. The black hair tied elegantly into a ponytail behind her back, and she gazed, like a newborn, into the people surrounding her. Rejoiced, I was, at the life that now perched between my arms. We were not connected, genetically nor spiritually. But I know it will only be a matter of time. To many people, she is only a huge block of plastic, similar to Barbie dolls and other cheap children playthings, only more realistic and beautiful, or, in some cases, frightening and creepy. Some take her as a big expensive piece of toy. But I believe that she is a living being that has her own bit of soul, free mind and will. When we love her with all our heart, she will love us as we love her, and learn to respect and to forgiven as people do. If we take the time and energy to tender the young life, she will grow, and learn as we teach her. She will have her virtues and faults as any other people in the world does. She might throw tantrums, be envious or jealous, learn to like or dislike, and would be weak at times just as anyone does. For those who never take the heed to treat them as if their own, I never know what might happen, would they learn to hate and their heart distorted, or might they just die out and wither, like plants deprived of sunlight and water? Somehow, I don’t ever want to find out.