A Lil' Of This And A Lil' Of That: MARCH 19TH (Long)

In 1991, my baby sister, Julie, was a senior in high school and turned 18 on March 19th.

That SAME afternoon, I got a phone call at work that our dad had died. It was utter disbelief! He died of a massive heart attack. He seemed the picture of health and life and was the glue that held our family together. He was 48 years old.

Not only had we lost our dad, whom we loved very much, but now our sister's birthday had a black cloud hanging over it.

What is the saying?

Three years later, 1994, I was pregnant with my one and only child. My due date was March 12th.

Early on in the pregnancy, my sister, Julie, thought maybe, just maybe my baby would be born on her birthday. I told her, "ABSOLUTELY NOT! NO WAY WAS I GOING LATE!"

We all know that babies are on their own time table. My due date came and went.

Maybe I'll have the baby on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. Nope. That day came and went, too. By this time, I was HUGE, uncomfortable, peeing all the time, couldn't sleep and wanted this kid O-U-T!

The baby's non-stress test came back fine. The fluid was good. The doctor was giving me 3-5 more DAYS! Good Lord, just shoot me, my back, bladder and feet!

No kidding, as God is my witness, at 12:05 midnight on MARCH 19TH, I went into hard labor. No mild contractions, hours apart. 5 minutes apart from the beginning. We headed off to the ER in the dark of the night.

12 hours later, my baby boy was born! On my sister's 21st birthday, 3 years to the day that our dad had died.

The mourning was over. God's way (and I'm sure our dad's) of saying, "Get on with life. You've grieved enough." We had a wonderful new person in our family! It was a day of rejoicing!

MY DAD: We still laugh and have great memories of him. He was an original and we miss him a lot! There were 4 grandkids when he passed away. He would have gotten a kick out of the 8 more that followed after his death. 12 total. Yikes! LOL

My Dad and Me
TO MY SISTER: I remember when she was brought home. I thought she was cute, but man, that infant crying. It was ear splitting! haha Even though I said at 4 years old, "she's ruined my life" because I was supposed to be the baby forever, she is now my forever best friend!

My Dad (holding Julie) and Me

TO MY SON:

Now, try explaining to your child, as a preschooler, that he and his aunt ARE NOT twins even though they share a birthday. There's a 21 year difference!