Hope for Baby Bennett: In Celebration of Life

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

In Celebration of Life

We're going on a family trip to Mexico in February (oh my goodness!!!), so we realized we needed to get our passports in order. Dusk and I needed to renew ours, and we needed to get the kids passports. In the hustle and bustle of pulling everything together for that process,

(on a side note, have you ever had to renew or apply for a passport? Holy Toledo, they do NOT make the process easy. Pages and pages of application, but hey that's government for you. But I digress…)

I realized we didn't have a birth certificate for Bodie. As in, we had never gotten one. We had a certificate of live birth from the hospital, but not an authorized certificate from the county.

I don't know how other states do it, but in California, it's not an automatic thing. You actually have to apply for the certificate. It's usually done in the hospital after birth, but, yeah, well, we had other things on our minds at the time.

Dusk said to me "What do you mean, we don't have it? How did we miss that?"

I just stared at him blankly.

Was he kidding? Was he not there when Bodie was born?

He paused for long moment, and then quietly said "Yeah, I guess when you don't know if your child is going to live a week, you don't exactly worry about things like a birth certificate."

Yeah.

Boy did that ever throw me back to how awful things were with Bodie in the early days, and how touch and go things were for so long. (and if you haven't been following our journey for very long, let me just say, things were very rough for a good 7 months or so).

He's so robust now, so amazing and full of life. If it weren't for the purple tinge his lips get on colder days, or the scars that mark his chest, I could almost forget everything he went through.

It could almost be someone else's story.

Almost.

So, to pick up his birth certificate today was, just, so. So. So everything.

The 45 minute wait at the courthouse couldn't even take the joy out of the moment.

To us, this is so much more than a birth certificate.

It is a celebration of birth, yes.

But also a celebration of fight, of endurance, of tenacity beyond measure.

What a great way to end 2014, with such a symbol of celebration.

2014, you have not been altogether kind to us.

But even so, you have blessed us.

Happy New Year's Eve.

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The Chosen Mothers by Erma Bombeck

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures, and a couple by habit. Did you ever wonder how mothers of children with life threatening illnesses are chosen?

Somehow, I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting His instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As He observes, He instructs His angels to make notes in a giant ledger. "Armstrong, Beth, son, patron saint Matthew. Forrest, Marjorie, daughter, patron saint Cecilia. Rutledge, Carrie, twins, patron saint Gerard."

Finally, He passes a name to an angel and says, "Give her a child with cancer." The angel is curious. "Why this one God? She's so happy." "Exactly" smiles God, "Could I give a child with cancer a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."

"But, does she have patience?" asks the angel. "I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she will handle it." "I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has it's own world. She has to make it live in her world and that's not going to be easy."

"But, Lord, I don't think she believes in you." No matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness." The angel gasps -"Selfishness? is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take anything her child does for granted. She will never consider a single step ordinary. I will permit her to see clearly the things I see...ignorance, cruelty, prejudice...and allow her to rise above them." She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is doing My work as surely as if she is here by My side." "And what about her patron Saint?" asks the angel. His pen poised in mid-air. God smiles, "A mirror will suffice."