Darling, some people say birthdays are silly. "Every single person does have them," Dad says,"And every year too." You are coming along any day now. Soon, very soon, you will be ready. My body will look different. Not bad, just different. Perhaps one day you'll rub your tiny fingers along the bumps of my belly, and ask, "How long till I get these too?"

"You once lived here; this is just proof. Every day of every year that humans have ever lived, a mumma sings to her little girl, 'Happy birthday, I love you, these marks are the gift I got from you.

And so it goes, on and on until the end of time. Mothers and daughters, daughters and mothers sing the same tune. "These marks celebrate the body that once housed you."