Shepherd

When I worked as a crisis counselor in the bad side of town, near Christmas, in came a drunk woman carrying a baby dressed only in a sleeper (you know those footed pajamas).
After assessing their needs, food, someone to talk to, voucher for a cab, the "Mother" got on the phone we kept out for clients. I held this little boy, whose name is Shepherd and he
smiled up at me with big trusting eyes. I could feel that his diaper was full so I laid him down gently on the couch and unzipped his pj's - he had a scar from the top of his ribcage down. I went about changing him and when I took him to his Mom, I asked about his scar. She told me he had had some kind of heart surgery when he was just a newborn. I saw him from time to time, met his Dad also named Shepherd, an older fellow who had the same eyes as his son. How can someone so tiny be so strong, already? The will to live and thrive.