I would never hold my own baby.
I would never have her skin against mine.
I would never hold his hand as he walked across the road.
I would never, ever, do or feel the many things mothers and fathers do.

Yet I have felt love.
I have felt great love for children.
I have cried deeply for the children of the world.

I stood in our church and asked the priest why he did not ask us to pray for the children who died and suffered that week in a far-away war.
Tears streamed down my face, he wiped a tear off my check, he smiled and turned away.

You see, I love deeply. I care deeply.
I can’t imagine by giving birth it would change who I am, and how much I care or love.

I am childless, and I do know love.
I know love in its many forms.

Mina Sedgman