I once watched my baby daughter like this while she floated easily on her back across the screen of a scanning machine. I have loved you longest, I would tell Dolly when I felt sentimental, making my case in a contest that she did not, in any case, care to enter. I knew you first, I would say over and over to my daughter. I watched you, loved you before you ever saw me.
-- Sunday (fire can be mistaken for light)

Importance: Sunday reflects on the profound and unconditional nature of her maternal love. The imagery of watching her baby daughter on a scanning machine evokes a sense of both vulnerability and awe, highlighting the intimacy of maternal bonding. Sunday's assertion that she has loved her daughter longest underscores the primal, instinctual love that exists independently of reciprocation or acknowledgment. Her repetition of "I knew you first" emphasizes her role as a witness to her daughter's earliest moments...