Dear Mom e-Letter
Remembering, Celebrating, Healing

Volume 1, Issue 7
Welcome to Our World
April 10, 2006

Dear Reader,

Less than two days ago, my granddaughter decided it was time to arrive. Three weeks early, with little fanfare and no preparation, she arrived into this world, weighing 6 lbs. 12 oz., in a little package of dark hair that is 18 3.4 inches long.

Faith Elizabeth is her name. I get to meet her in three weeks. But I saw her via my camera phone within hours of her birth. I sang to her the first night of her life, and she responded with cooing and open eyes. I have that way with people when I sing, so I limit that talent to small children and dogs. Until they howl.

Faith Elizabeth is the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter. Each has Elizabeth in their name. It’s one of our finer family traditions.

My mother, Elizabeth, won’t meet Faith. But I have no doubt she knows she’s here. A little soul who has come to earth to have an experience called life. A little soul in a beautiful little pink dress who went home from the hospital today to begin life at home with a big brother.

She came early, and she seems to already have a mind of her own. She reminds me already of her mother, my daughter, as I’m sure my daughter reminded Mom of me. So to honor family traditions, I make these predictions….

Faith will be independent, head strong, and certain about the things she thinks she should do. She will decide one day to take a net to the lake to catch turtles. She will decide another day to color her hair purple and pink. She will decide on yet another day that the cat is dirty and needs a bath, and her mother will discover them together in a tub filled with water.

Faith will sing and dance and play basketball. She will play the flute and give her mom a concert after only three weeks of lessons. And her mother will love it.

Faith, like me, has a brother nearly four years old than she. Therefore, I make these additional predictions.

Faith will do whatever her big brother tells her to do because she trusts him. She will go where he leads, climb trees, catch frogs and throw footballs. Trusting her brother will lead to grabbing an electric fence when he recommends it, tasting a pipe in subzero weather when he says it will taste good, and becoming a Green Bay Packer fan because there is no other team.

Mom is not only aware, she is laughing.

When Mom was pregnant with me, she referred to me often, asking my brother to put things in Dee Ann Marie’s dresser, or on Dee Ann Marie’s bed. He was her helper. But when I came home from the hospital, helping was done. He took one look at me in my bassinet and asked my mom, “Now can I spit her in the eye?”

Big brothers have that reaction to little sisters. Occasionally. OK, 50 years later, I still find myself doing what my brother tells me to do. It’s a great part of life, having a big brother. It’s one of the nicest gifts Faith could ever receive. Even on the days when he wants to spit her in the eye.

Faith will continue on with a strong family tradition, as will her big brother. And somehow, I just know Mom’s laughing. And the journey of celebrating and sharing Mom’s life with the next generation continues.

f you’re a grandparent, you know the joy I’m describing. Isn’t it one of the greatest gifts you’ve ever received?

Dee Dee