A Letter to Mary

Dear Blessed Woman,
I know you won’t get this. I doubt you’ll even see this as you are in heaven, joined by that great cloud of witnesses. After all, you don’t share the “ever-present” or “all-knowing” qualities of your Lord and mine.
What was it like to be surprised by that angel? Did you have any idea? When did you tell your parents? What was their reaction? The Sacred Text doesn’t tell me, but did the angel come to them, too? In my society, parental disclosure from the news source for such an event would help (of course, the celestial announcement would have been appalling by itself). What do you think Joseph would have done if an angel didn’t inform him? Did you really believe or was it surreal? What did your friends say? Did anyone tell the synagogue leaders? Was suspicion building? It must have been a good thing that your cousin Elizabeth was pregnant, too. In a way, she “had the back” of your Lord and mine.
What did you crave during your pregnancy with Messiah? What was going through your head those 9 months knowing you were carrying a king? You seem to have a mature view of God’s economics when it comes to the rich and poor, for you and your family were always struggling to make ends meet. What did the priest say when you gave him the name Yeshua? What was it like to hear Simeon’s prophecy about your future sorrow? Did you ever really anticipate the grief to come when Jesus left your home only to become homeless? Speaking of sorrow and grief, what did you think when you heard of Herod’s slaughter? Did you shed tears in sackcloth and ashes, make an offering, or fast? Did you ever imagine the cost of birthing your Lord and mine in that stable?
Dear Mary, what was it like to patch up his first scraped knee? How weird was it to go shopping or to parties and never remind Jesus of the family rules? Did you ever feel unfair disciplining his half-siblings? Did you ever, in a moment of alone time with Yeshua, just bow down and worship both your Lord and mine?