Waiting in the labor and delivery
room to welcome a new life gives one time to reflect on their own life. Families of all
shapes and sizes and ages wait in eager anticipation. It doesn’t take long before one feels a
common bond with all those other families, waiting.
Today I sat waiting for a young
friend of mine to give birth to her second child when an older heavy-set woman
put her walker aside and sat down beside me. The person with her declined the
offer to sit on the couch with us, opting instead to sit on the floor with his
back against the wall.
I remarked how I love to sit on
the floor and take every opportunity I can to do so. “Oh, but it’s the getting up that’s hard!” they said in
unison. From there the conversation
moved to falling and trying to get up. (Did you know that falls are the leading
cause of brain injury in older adults?)
On the way home after meeting my
friend’s new baby, I thought of the time when my mother came to stay with us to
wait for the arrival of her grandchild. Seven
weeks of waiting gave us plenty of time to go places, see new sights and run
numerous errands.
One cold October day she and I walked
three blocks to the grocery store and the nearby hardware store. She thought because
I was so ready to go into labor at any time that I should carry the small glass
storm window that we had repaired at the hardware store and she would carry the
heavy bag of groceries (we only needed
eggs). Walking back to the house I asked her if the down coat I had given
her was keeping her warm.
“Oh, yes it
s---u----r-----eeeeeeee” she replying as she tripped on uneven pavement and
began falling forward! Trying to not fall and break the eggs, she tried to
catch her balance by walking faster. I tried to help her by walking faster so
that I could grab onto her coat. The coat slipped out of my attempt as she
continued to fall. She walked faster again. I tried to grab her coat again.
Over and over she would almost go down and I would almost catch her with my
free hand while holding the window tightly with the other. After falling
forward and traveling almost half a block in distance she finally righted
herself without falling – and I finally
grabbed her coat. Whew, close call.
Oh how we laughed and laughed. She
saved the eggs from cracking and I saved the glass from breaking. My
daughter was born the next day.
My mom loved birthdays. She always
wanted to celebrate the day she was born,
September 14, 1919 by swimming in Current River. It didn’t matter what the
temperature might be she would come out of the water refreshed and happy, ready
to start another year.
Happy Birthday!
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| Polly always celebrated her birthday by getting wet in Current River. |