London Bridge

 So many reasons to be thankful, but I didn't relish the idea of Thanksgiving this entirely-too-busy Fall. I didn't even have a turkey yet, come Tuesday morning, much less anything else that was needed. Everyone brings side dishes, so that's a blessing...but there's still so much to be done. The house was a wreck. Crunchy leaves seemed to be in every corner, as we have been dealing with new trees and also picking up a bumper crop of pecans from our yard. Laundry was piled up from the results of a dead washing machine.  I've had a lot of real estate business and musical events to deal with, along with the requisite worrying about all my people (and our daughter very late with her baby). I was just plumb tuckered out. Then the lady who was going to help me clean my house had an emergency with her Mama. I figured we'd live, even if the acorns started making babies in the house. Somehow, I mustered up the energy to run through Walmart, where I quickly picked up a monster turkey, some not-home-made pies, a big sack of potatoes and a gloriously tacky Christmas sweater. It said "Feliz Navidad" and had a big Llama on the front, along with chili peppers hanging from it. I couldn't imagine many more things that would give you that much fun for $24.95. My spirits were picking up... 

The family Thanksgiving was wonderful, with enough warmth and hilarity to make it worth it all. The party wound down, with lots of sticky hugs and kisses from cute little people. My daughter and her husband and toddler son lingered behind with us and our son's family who is living with us (while they build their house). We sat in the kitchen, laughing and talking. It was one of those occasions where the evening was crystallized into a sweet bubble, when you look around the room and just want to freeze time. We rush about in our lives, fussing and worrying, arranging, buying, selling, working...and sometimes fail to really stop and savor what we are doing it all for. As we walked Liz and Marcus and Ethan outside to their car, we laughingly told her that she better get home and get to bed, because that baby was coming in a few hours. Of course, the phone rang in the middle of the night with the frantic news that they were on the way to the hospital. That turkey and gravy was just the ticket. 

It was a short travail that involved many things: dancing and funky music, laughter, a very chatty Elizabeth (even without medication), next some calm and serene songs, then the transition period into that hell-like chasm between life and death that is often natural labor. When all strength seemed gone and hope was absent, there were cries and prayers for mercy. Papa Ken was in the next room on his knees, the best (and only) thing worth doing at the time. Marcus prayed too, wrestling with the difficult and helpless place of watching his beloved in such pain. As the despair crested, the lioness roared as she refused to give in. Baby London burst into the world, red and loud, her Mama punching the air and shouting, "I did it!" The whole room laughed and cheered as Liz reached to pull their baby to her heart. 

When calm came over the room and the many hospital staff began to drift away, I was able to get close to our granddaughter. She was laying in a bassinet, wailing and protesting the cruel, cold air she found herself in. I reached down and she grasped my finger and pulled it to her face. As I began speaking to her, she ceased her crying and stared into my eyes. We had a "moment." I've experienced these soul ties before, with other of my precious grandchildren upon their births. Sometimes the tie happens later, and it might take more time. Either way, these lives are not just biology. There is that soul...

Nothing on earth is like the miracle of birth. It's gut-wrenching pain that suddenly stops and delivers you a miracle in its place. I imagine crossing on over into heaven is similar to the believer. We've got pain, trials and that pesky law of gravity, but then we're delivered, death and life tumbled together like pearls in a bowl. Swing low, sweet chariot.