As God Giveth

After a while I was finally ready to date again. Albert Einstein once defined insanity as: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I suppose that makes me as nutty as a Snickers bar.

I had given in to L.T.’s requests for a date and was astounded just how well a man could treat a woman if he chose to. He chose to. My tattered heart needed time and patience and I was given both, yet there were always warm welcoming arms waiting for me when I needed them. Happiness became a part of my life once again.

I’ve never been known for my patience. The very July after that awful yet wonderful Christmas, I said “Yes” to L.T.’s proposal of marriage. He’ll be the first to interject that it was not before he asked the third time, while down on one knee, on a moonlit beach on Grand Cayman Island. (I wanted it to be right this time.)

Of course the subject of children came up almost immediately. With my long-running history of infertility we decided it best not to wait to initialize project “B.” We discussed every aspect, including the possibility of adopting a baby girl from China, after we tried for at least 14 months to get pregnant with medical intervention (kinky, huh?). We found a Reproductive Endocrinologist and set up an appointment. I was told I would need to discontinue the use of the birth control pills I was using to regulate my wacky menstrual cycle the month prior to the appointment.

Much to our consternation, fourteen days post pill discontinuation, we conceived a baby. I could have been knocked over with a feather and poor L.T. had to figure out how to break this kind of news to his parents. It might not have been so much of an issue if it weren’t for the fact that Dr. Edwards Senior held the position as an ordained Baptist Minister with a sizable congregation of wonderful people who kept up with all of his eldest son’s doings.

Of course I had called my own mother within five minutes of identifying two pink lines on the test stick. She was probably more excited than I at the prospect of her second grandchild. We wondered how the Edwards side would take the news.

It was not long after learning of our wonderful and terrifying pregnancy that we also learned of L.T.’s mother’s diagnosis. Judy’s breast cancer had spread and it would be a miracle if she survived until Christmas. That Thanksgiving we made the trek from Texas to Florida with a video tape of our first sonogram. We sat Judy down in front of the big-screen television and hit the play button. There, much larger than life, was our little baby. Her newly formed arms and legs were wiggling as she danced about in her little, dark home inside my womb. I will never, ever forget Judy’s delighted giggle and the look of wonder on her face as she watched her first grandchild move about.

Some things happen for a reason. I truly believe it was God’s will that Judy was able to share the joy of knowing she was to have a grand child, with us. That holiday season was bitter-sweet as Judy passed just hours after Christmas ended. She was a stubborn woman and she positively refused to ruin anybody's Christmas by passing on the 25th. She kept her word, passing on at 1:00 AM on December 26th. She will be remembered as a woman of her word unto the last.