The Miracle of Birth; The Sadness of Death; & A Devastating Tragedy

[I wrote this on January 22, 2011, but just didn’t have a chance to finish it up and post it. So now here it is.]

It is amazing how different things in your life change in the blink of an eye. I was driving home last night when my Mother called to tell me my niece, Tracy, and her husband, Ryan, had their baby. Leyton Ryan was born at 5:16 p.m. after Tracy suffered through 17 hours of labor. I feel for her. I had approximately two hours of labor from start to finish with both my boys, so I can be compassionate, though not knowing the true extent of her pain for a grueling 17 hours. When I spoke with her this morning, she said that the pain was so intense up until the time she received the epidural, but “don’t let anyone fool you, those epidurals hurt, too!” I mentioned to her that I bet I knew her feelings in those last few minutes of intense pushing and pain, “what have I gotten myself in to” and “I’m never going to do this again.” Which she said were exactly the thoughts. But as I so truly remember, and she agreed, those thoughts quickly melt away the minute you see the product of those nine months of pregnancy -- when you get to peer into the little face of the creation you have just witnessed. It is truly a miracle.

After I got home, with the thoughts so clear in my head of the happy event that just occurred, I was preparing supper and started watching the Tucson memorial service where President Obama spoke. Bob groaned a little when he came in to see that I was watching it, but he, too, quickly got swept up in the moment. It was touching, inspirational, moving, and a tear-jerker. At first, I was afraid it would turn into a political rally by the way the Dean of the University of Arizona started to introduce President Obama (and, mind you, I am a Democrat and love Barack – but there is a place and time for that and this was not it), but saw the shift of sentiment once Obama set forth to deliver the message he was sent to do. Again, I was reminded many times during his memorial delivery of how life is so precious and that we have to enjoy and live every moment, because we never know what is right around the corner. My most memorable portions of Obama’s memorial tribute last night were the words he spoke about little 9-year-old Christina Taylor Greene and how at such a young age she was so committed to community and public service. He spoke of what her expectations of life were, how the bookends of her life were not so dissimilar being born on a national tragedy, “911" (9/11/2001), and leaving this world on the day of and amidst another national tragedy. Yes, the end of her life did bring the nation to its knees just as the beginning did, but Barack also asked that we as a nation live up to the expectations of Christian and the other youth of our nation. Again, very awe-inspiring to listen to and yet very reminiscent of a slideshow of the pictures of each of our lives. Definitely brings you back to the saying, "Live each day to the fullest as we never know what tomorrow will bring."

This has been a week of beginnings and endings of sort. They say that when one enters this life, another passes. I found that to ring true. At the beginning of this week a dear friend’s mother and the great-grandmother to my niece/goddaughter passed away. It was about this time last year when I was sort of reunited with Margaret. She was in the nursing home where my Aunt was before she passed away. I would try to stop in and visit with Margaret every time I was there, if even to make a point to walk to her room just to say “hi” if I was running out of time. At times I was there longer; she and I would have longer conversations; not about anything specifically to start out with but just news from town or generalities, but it would always inevitably turn into conversing about memories of some sort; that I am always intrigued about and can sit for hours listening to stories of “yesteryear.”

So, I was saddened to hear the news of her passing on Monday. I had actually been thinking about her over the weekend because I happened to see someone that had been at the nursing home convalescing and my initial thoughts were I needed to stop in at the nursing home just to have a quick visit with some of the residents I loved to visit with. Unfortunately, that thought came and went too quickly and the next thing I know Margaret has passed. As I said, we never know what is around the next corner.

Then last night a miracle in the form of the start of the next generation of our family. I have seen the babies born from my Mother as the eldest girl (one older brother) and a little span of years between the next younger sibling. I swaddled, fed, burped, changed, bathed them and watched them grow up to have babies of their own. I have swaddled, fed, burped, changed and bathed them. Now, I get to do the same to the next generation.

The cycle of life is a powerful thing. It can be so magnificent when you witness the miracle of birth and yet when you see tragedies evidenced with the shooting in Tucson. It can bring you to your knees in pain, suffering and sorrow. I guess it keeps our perspectives in check when we reach for each new day. Birth, death and the dawn of a new day – never anything to take for granted.