Thinking About the Day Mei-Ling Was Born

The night before Mei-Ling was born, I felt like it was 100 times better than Christmas eve as a child. Anticipation, excitement and so much more. I had trouble calming down enough to let sleep come to me, but finally drifted off with dreams of holding a sweet grand-daughter the very next day. I was up long before the sun, that Christmas morning type excitement had blossomed into something akin to the day I married. Having my own children was very exciting but I lacked all the information about the joy that was to follow for decades to come. Plus labor was involved which sort of occupies your mind in a rather serious way. With the anticipation of a grandchild, you know so much more, you know what fun a child is at 10, 15, 20 and the fun of seeing them in college and getting married and now having families of their own. You just know more of what lies ahead with a grandchild and the frosting on this sweet cake is that you know there are no 2 a.m. feedings for you ! You know by this stage in life that you survive a child's teen years and that the hard work of parenting well pays off. You know that being consistent, being loving, having a solid family life gives the child so much of what they need. You have learned by this time that you can handle just about anything that comes along. You also have seen your children say things like, "we are going to do things like you did". I laugh to hear my girls talk about feeding children now. When they were young teens they would tell me that they are going to let their children eat whatever they want. Now I hear things like, "we are going to feed our children just like we were fed. Which translates into things like, calling raisins "candy". Cookies are going to be things like amaranth crackers. Fun foods will be whole wheat tortillas spread with peanut butter, sprinkled with raisins. Ice cream will be frozen banana's pushed through a Champion juicer. The girls appreciate that we did that for them as children, knowing the results were that they were extremely healthy children.
We as grandparents now get to see our own parenting translated and adapted by our children.
Emery and I openly admitted to our children the mistakes we felt we made, so they know not to make those same mistakes. This is nothing less than a wonderful stage in life.
The day Mei-Ling was born was nothing less than gorgeous, actually I remember thinking it was Glorious, which is not a word I use lightly. It seems sacred to me to use that word, but it describes that day so well. The sun broke on the horizon, clear and bright, transforming the dark sky into light baby colors, pastel shades of pink and blue. I stood at the back door and laughed silently thinking about how appropriate that was, baby colors for THE BABY DAY.
When it turned out that the c-section was going to be delayed and take place at 1:30 instead of 10:30, I had to do something to use up that hyped up energy I was feeling so I headed out with my camera to a local pasture that is full of wildflowers. Its a Monet color filled field for acres and acres. Pinks, purples, yellows, whites, and blues everywhere on a canvas of spring green. Spikes of purple and pink reach up above the low flowers. Long lanky yellow flowers bending in the spring breeze, waving a greeting to any passerby. So few seem to notice though. Rushed folks, busy folks, folks on cell phones, folks with stressed out minds.
By the time my hike had ended, my thoughts centered on the miracle of the day and knowing that the time didn't matter, what mattered was that Melanie would be entering a new stage in her life, motherhood, such an amazing, wonderful place in life. A teaching job that lasts a life time. Not one you get to do over though. Mess up bad and you pay for it, it seems and so doesn't the child. Never ever too late to mend broken fences however. Just there has usually been a lot of hurt and pain when motherhood is not taken seriously and put aside for the sake of self interest. Fatherhood is just as important. Choose your man well. My dear husband has been extraordinary as a father. Our three children have a wonderful example of what a father should be.
What joy the 27th brought to our family. All these firsts for us. Melissa became an Aunt, Steven an Uncle, Emery and I grand-parents, my father a great grandfather and my sisters became great Aunts.
Mei Ling was born on my cousin Billy's birthday. He would have been 55 on that day. He passed away a few years ago to cancer. This new life connected by birthday to a very special man whose time on this earth was far too short.