On our little alley, where five houses stand shoulder to shoulder like friends with arms linked, a new neighbor moved in two years ago. They were a young couple in their late twenties, newly married. The husband, Drew, ran a landscaping business, and the wife, Jessica, worked as an elementary school teacher. Most of the neighbors were retired, so the alley was usually quiet. But Drew’s family brought with them two large brown shepherd dogs—tall as children—and a fiery little Chihuahua that barked as if it might faint from excitement. Soon, they ruled the alley like captains.

After our first greeting, we rarely had time for conversation, but it was clear how much Drew and Jessica loved outdoor sports. In front of their house stood a boat the size of a small house and a golf cart. On weekends they would leave, returning only late Sunday night. Then one spring, I noticed that the boat and golf cart, once parked outside, never returned. Stranger still, though the couple left together each morning and returned in the evening, Drew’s truck stopped appearing at night. Sometimes it was gone for days, leaving only Jessica’s car. Even their dogs, once the noisy rulers of the alley, grew quiet and were seldom seen.

We began to worry. Had something gone wrong between the young couple? Were they avoiding each other after a quarrel? Thoughts swirled until one day Jessica’s condition was unmistakable—she was heavily pregnant. They had sold the boat and golf cart, and Drew was working nights and weekends.

One early morning, frost covered the world. I stood in the living room, enjoying the sunlight and greeting the birds flying past the window. Suddenly, through the branches, I saw a blue balloon swaying. Drew was tying it to the mailbox in front of their house. A new life had been born! Fragile as if it might fly away or break at a touch, easily wounded, needing constant care. A life to be watched day and night, helped to take its first steps, lifted when it falls, comforted when it suffers, whispered to with “It will be all right,” and loved forever.

Looking at the blue balloon trembling in the wind, my heart was filled with joy and compassion for the young couple. I remembered myself, bewildered after my first child was born. I thought only of how beautiful the baby was, never of colds or fevers. Raising three children, I prayed they would not cry and wished they would become the children I wanted. Yet they grew in their own ways, under God’s hand, regardless of my foolish prayers. Through their illnesses and mischief, I learned I could never be a perfect mother, and had no choice but to entrust them to the Father in heaven.

It has been so long since I heard the cry of a newborn. Thinking that soon this little life will become the new “captain” of our alley, I already find myself longing for spring.