Monday, May 10, 2010

Be My Guest Monday! Living, Laughing, Loving


Hello! Thanks for stopping by today. Today is Be My Guest Monday! I'm looking for people to do some extraordinary summer posts for me... how about YOU??

Today's guest is Angela from Living, Laughing, Loving. You've got to check out her blog when you're done reading this post... if you can't smile after seeing the picture... well then you may just need some help. :) But today you are so lucky to read this beautiful Mother's Day tribute. And so...

A Blink After Birth
by Angelia Sims


<a href="http://youthinkyoucanblog.wordpress.com/" title="Living, Loving, Laughing"><img src="http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af194/iamconfessing/living-1.jpg" width="175" height="175" alt="Living, Loving,Laughing" /></a>

When I was a little girl from age four to ten, one of my favorite stories my mom would tell me was about the day I was born. As often as I could, I would beg her to tell it to me again. Maybe it was for the closeness we shared on that day. Maybe it was because my mom told it with such heart and soul. Maybe it was because I got to snuggle with her under the covers in her big brass bed. She would wrap me up and stroke my hair as she began to quietly speak. Transfixed, I would listen as she recounted the day with perfect clarity.

My mom, your Grandma Dorothy, died while I was pregnant with you. I was only 29 years old. We were so close and I loved her so much. It was devastating to me. But I had your two brothers, and sister to take care of. I could not grieve forever. As much as I would miss her, I had to do the best I could for my family. You were five months in my tummy when I said good-bye to her for the last time.

The months went by as slow and hard as I thought they would be. The emptiness and loss were a hole I could not fill. The boys were a handful, but thankfully your sister, who was eight, was a BIG help. She wished and wished for a baby sister and not a brother. I told her how sorry I was but I didn't think I could have any more girls. I wanted a girl more than anything but just couldn't get my hopes up. It seemed the last possible thing in the world. But in my dreams, I couldn't help but picture a big brown-eyed baby girl.


Two weeks from your due date the doctor informed me that he would go ahead and induce labor. He felt it was time. I had not gained much weight. I was too thin and too unhealthy. In my harrowing days, I had not taken very good care of myself. It was losing my mom. It was raising three children. It was so many things.


I couldn't believe after laboring all day when the moment of your arrival came and the doctor announced, "It's a girl!" I told him, "It couldn't be! I couldn't have any more girls." The doctor just laughed at me. "Of course you can have more girls and you did. She is beautiful. Just look at her."


And you were....you were so, so beautiful. You had BIG brown eyes that peered up at me like an Owl. And you were so tiny too, only 5lbs 12oz, the smallest baby I ever had. Your thin blond downy fuzz on your head was so soft, and how I loved to count your precious little fingers and toes. Oh, I was amazed and in love. I only wished my mom could be there to meet you.


Back in those days, the babies would lay in the nursery while the mom recovered in her room from the medicines and birth. I was laying there in my hospital bed thinking of you and smiling, when suddenly, at the foot of my bed stood my mom. She was standing there looking at me with such love and adoration on her face. She looked right in my eyes and said, "Oh Sharon, you did it again. She is beautiful, just like you dreamed she would be with those big brown eyes. I'm so happy you got another girl."


I was so amazed and startled. I did what any normal person would do, I closed my eyes. I shook my head. When I opened them, she was gone.


Oh how I wished I had not closed my eyes. I wish I would have talked to her. I wish...I wish...I wish....but I didn't and just like that, she was gone. But she WAS there. Really there. It wasn't a dream. I will never forget that moment for the rest of my life.

Her story is both heart-wrenching and joyful. I am usually crying with her at the end. In my heart of hearts, I know my Grandma met me. She gazed at me through the glass. She lovingly reached for my downy head and stared into my big eyes. Oh Grandma, I heard so much about you. What you must have done to visit your daughter in a gesture of comfort, a gesture of reassurance, and a gesture of compassion that you were still there in her deepest period of loss. How much you loved us all. I know one day we will meet again, all of us, and no blink will ever miss that moment.

In loving memory of my mom's mom, Dorotha Marie.

17 comments:

  1. Very touching! Never easy losing a loved one...I still wish my little brother was here...why so many young people go is beyond me but it's life and we grieve. My nana was the best woman I'd ever known. She died when I was eight and I will never forget the details of our memories! I'm sure the stories you share are heartbreaking yet wonderful. xoxo heading over to stalk you now:) thanx

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  2. Oh, that is beautiful!!
    I love the way Angelia writes.
    It is nice to meet you, Inspired Dreamer.

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  3. Thanks for making me cry this morning miss Angelia!! :-) Such a beautiful story! So poignant and touching. This one hits me to the core since my experience with Leo in Maui. Thanks for sharing such special and intimate story with us all...

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  4. Not easy when you loose a loved one. A beautiful story. Thank you for sharing

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  5. Angelia,
    What a beautiful and touching story...the story of you. And more than that - the story of a mother's love, and of her mother's love. Angelia, that is something I witness in you always...love. What a wonderful story....

    (and I believe, too, that she was there, watching over you and your mom....)

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  6. Angelia -

    Wow! I can completely understand why you would ask you mom to tell you that over and over. What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing!

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  7. @Vic-I'm so sorry about your brother. Loss is hard and reading about others brings up good and bad sometimes. But it's all part of life and what makes us who we are. Thank you for your visit and comment.

    @Jean-Thank you, what a sweet compliment. I am really glad InspiredDreamer invited me here to her extraordinary place.

    @Kellene-Awh! I didn't mean to. Your stories ALWAYS make me cry! They are so sweet.

    @Yogasavy-I do wish I would have known her. I guess the stories are all I have.

    @Lance-It is comforting and I think my mom still thinks that she watches over her. It gives me great honor to think she met me. I was the only one she didn't get to hold so it means alot that she would be there and who knows maybe she ordered me custom just for mom.
    Thank you for always sharing your heart with your compliments, Lance. I adore them.

    @Terre-She always cried when she told me but it was so real and heartfelt. It made me feel so special that she shared that with me.

    @InspiredDreamer-Thank you for letting me tell my story on your blog and for the truly awesome introduction. :-)

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  8. Angelia, you have such an amazing way with words. This one made me all verklempt!!

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  9. Hoi Angelia, it must feel great, your mom told you this story. It was so sad for her, to loose her mom, but this experience, most made you and your mom feel so special. Thanks for sharing it.

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  10. Angelia, what an endearing story. I'll bet it has brought both you and your mother much comfort through the years.

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  11. Angelia is so creative, warm, and loving! I wish I could be like her! When I grow up,maybe I will.
    Can I be a guest sometime? Please check out my blog and let me know.

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  12. This is beautiful. I think it's wonderful that you know your birth story (I have finally written mine so that I can pass mine down), and yours is especially poignant because of the loss of your grandmother. It's touching and unexpected that in the end you too had met your grandmother - it wasn't just about your mother and her mother. Thanks for sharing this story with the rest of us!

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  13. @foxy-Ohh so sorry, guess I should have posted a mascara alert for other softies like me. You are so so kind, thank you!

    @Ellen-I can't imagine losing my mom. It was hard enough losing my dads in the last 2 years and while pregnant...wow. It's so hard to comprehend. I do know they were very close.

    @suzicate-I've seen her picture a million times. I always wanted to know about her. She was a beauty and apparently very down to earth. It is such a comfort. Thank you!

    @Judie-Thank you for your super nice compliment. I know you are extremely talented yourself. :-) I hope to see a future post here.

    @onlyyoublog-Thank you for your comment. It really was something special. That mix of sorrow and joy in a day. It was probably the first major event that happened since Grandma died. Those are always the hardest but then again she has a brand new baby. The pride and loneliness probably battled. It is so important to record birth stories. I am very glad you are doing that for your family.

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  14. ok, i'm crying right now. that was a beautiful story and it really makes you believe in miraculous occasions.

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  15. We tell Bulldog the great story of his birth, too, although he is adopted...........it's all special no matter how it happens...........

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  16. That was so moving and touching. I'm glad I didn't have on makeup!

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  17. Such a lovely story! How your mother made it through such a difficult time, she has to be a really strong person!

    I am so glad you was born!

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