Dear Baby Ramos,
We were born one day and one hundred miles apart. You were born in the Bronx while I was born on the eastern end of Suffolk County. You died the day I was born and then unceremoniously buried in a potter's field. Your burial record doesn't even say if you were a boy or a girl. You were also given no name, at least on official records. Hopefully, your mother named you and keeps you in her heart to this day.
I wonder who you would be today. Would you have graduated college or pursued a career? Would you have joined the military and be serving your country proudly? Would you have married and had children? Would you have been one of the kindred souls who showed kindness to everyone you encountered?
For nearly thirty years you remained anonymous. Just another baby who died soon after birth in a soul-less New York City hospital. Your memory nearly erased from all written memory and reduced to a simple public burial record. That simple record touched the heart of a 29 year old Air Force wife living in South Korea.
My husband and I are unable to have children and although you would technically be older than me if you had lived, I claim you as one of my spirit children. I offer to you the Jewish memorial prayer.
God, remember the soul of my beloved Baby Ramos who has been called to their eternal home. In their memory I offer charity. May their soul be bound up in the bond of life with the souls of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah and all the other righteous ones in eternal bliss. Amen.
Mrs. Megan Goldstein
22 July 2015
Daegu, South Korea