Dar a luz

I came home this morning to find our wonderful maid, Magdalena, making our bed. I like to watch People & Arts in the morning, and the TV was on "Sala de Maternidad"--Maternity ward. Magdalena, who is in her 50s and has never married or had kids, excitedly told me that she had never seen a baby being born. She was glued to the TV where the woman on the show was giving birth to gemelos--twins. As she walked out of the room, fanning herself, she said, "estoy sudando"--I'm sweating, but she was also smiling from ear to ear. It couldn't have been better if she was really there in the birth room.

"Dar a luz" means to give birth--literally "give a light." What a lovely way to express nature's greatest miracle.