They met it before the world did

Today, the book got a cover.

Not on a screen.
Not as an idea.
Not as something I was still shaping.

Something I could hold.

I have been building my memoir for a while now, and just a few days ago, I finished the pieces that made it a reading experience. Then it needed to become a book—something someone can encounter.

Today, it became that.

When I printed the cover to see how it feels to encounter it, my babies knew it was a moment to share.

Before I could fully take it in,
they came.

Toffee approached first, slowly, through scent.
Milo followed—watching, pausing, exploring.

They didn’t know what it was called.
They didn’t know what it meant.
They didn’t know what it took to get here.

They just met it.

Curious.
Calm.
Present.

The cover sat between them, not as something introduced, but as something placed into the life that held me while I built it.

And for a moment, that was enough.

Before the book entered the world.
Before readers.
Before meaning-making.
Before the world meets it.

It was here.

In the same space where I’ve lived, struggled, healed, created.
In the presence of the beings who have witnessed me through it all.

They met it before the world did.

And somehow, that felt right.