A Healthy Baby Boy!
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes, 26 seconds
Enough Love for Both of Them
“Jan’s due date is tomorrow,” I said as I greeted my parents at the door to our house. My Aunt Ginny and Uncle Jack were traveling and had stopped to visit us. “Your timing is perfect; delivery could be tonight.”
“No need to get up,” my Mother said to Jan as they entered our apartment.
Jan sighed and smiled as she lay across the couch with a scarf.
“Sometimes you forget how difficult a pregnancy can be in the final hours,” she said.
“It will be over soon,” my Mother said.
“Hopefully, you will be here to welcome your fourth grandchild.”
The room was quiet as no one responded to Jan’s comment.
I finally broke the silence by asking if they were ready for dinner.
“A home-cooked dinner would be nice,” exclaimed Uncle Jack.
“Jon, come over and say hello to your grandparents and wash up for dinner,” Jan said.
Jon ran into the room and bumped into his granddaddy.
“Are you happy you will be a big brother soon?”
“Yes. I can’t wait to meet Buckethead!”
“Buckethead?”
“That’s what he wants us to name the baby,” I explained.
The dinner conversation focused mainly on Jan’s condition and their travel plans.
“If you can stay thru the weekend, you should be able to meet the new grandchild,” I tried again to ask the question again.
“I wish we could,” Mother said. “But we need to be on the road in the morning.”
“That’s a shame,” Jan responded. “I am sure the baby will be born this weekend.”
“I wish we could,” Mother said adamantly.
I was puzzled and could tell that Jan was as well, but it seemed best to drop the subject.
After dinner, I helped Jan back to the couch.
“Does anyone want coffee,” I asked as I started to wash the dishes.
A unanimous chorus of no, including Jan, told me not to attempt to make coffee.
When I walked back into the living room, I noticed my Dad was not there. I saw him sitting on the floor in the front room, playing with Jon.
I joined them as the two were playing with the wooden blocks.
“This is a nice block set,” said my Dad.
“Yes, they are wood, not plastic, and it was not easy carrying them home on the subway.”
“Henry, we should get going soon,” Mother’s voice ended the playtime.
Jon jumped up and ran into the living room.
As my Dad lifted himself from the floor, he said, “I wish I could have hugged him and said he has no reason to worry. here will be enough love for him and the new baby.”
After almost 48 years, I recently lost my wife, Jan Lilien. Like The Little Prince, Jan and I believed that “The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.” This blog is a collection of my random thoughts on love, grief, life, and all things considered.
What a great way to remember Your dear wife! I will spend some time reading past articles. Keep going, Richard! Great job!!!
Hugo, thank you so very much for your kind words.
I write from my heart about Jan. The words flow like fresh honey.
As Helen Keller wrote,
“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”
Let me know if you find other articles of interest and feel free to share the newsletter with anyone you believe might enjoy reading it.