I said my daughter’s name after the stroke took my speech

Dear Delyara, A stroke left me unable to speak more than a few sounds. I understood people but could not reach the words inside my head. My daughter visited daily and brought photographs, songs, and cards with simple phrases. Speech therapy began with breathing, mouth movements, and one syllable repeated until frustration made me cry. The therapist asked which word mattered most. I chose my daughter’s name, Naledi. For weeks, I could produce only the first sound. Yesterday, during practice, the rest arrived. Na-le-di. Slow, uneven, but complete. My daughter covered her mouth and asked me to say it again. I did. Then again. We both laughed because she had spent thirty-five years hearing her name from me without knowing it was a gift. Recovery continues. I cannot yet hold an ordinary conversation, and some words may never return. Still, the first name I fought back into the world belonged to the person who kept sitting beside me when silence made me feel absent from my own body.