Do you ever get a reminder for something that you don’t need a reminder for because there is no way you could ever forget it? I received a reminder this morning that tomorrow is Heather’s birthday. There is no way I would forget this birthday as I remember forty years ago (yes forty!) the joy, pain, excitement and fear the birth of our firstborn would bring.
It was one of the iciest, snowiest Februarys ever on record for the Fort Worth/Dallas area. “The Ice of Texas is Upon You” was the headline from the Fort Worth Star Telegram that February day. Bill was a student at Southwestern Theological Baptist Seminary and stayed by my bedside during the 36 hours of labor. I came in to the hospital on the night of February 7 and since it was so icy and the roads were dangerous the hospital decided to keep me close by. Bill and I didn’t have any family nearby and no one could travel because of the icy roads so we sat together, just the two of us, knowing that soon our lives would change forever.
At this ‘ancient’ time in 1978, you did not know whether your baby would be a boy or a girl so we had picked out names for both. Joshua for a boy and Heather for a girl. We were prepared for either way-I even decorated the nursery in a 'safe' yellow and green gingham - well the “nursery” in the sense a poor seminary couple could afford. It was basically a crib and a dresser - both covered with a new coat of paint.
Even our dog knew something was special the night I left for the hospital. He laid his head in my lap and looked up at me with his big Cocker Spaniel eyes as if to say 'can I go with you?’ Little did he know how this baby would change his life!
Finally the time came on February 9, 1978 at 1:10 pm after a long labor and no pain medication (this was the generation that embraced the idea you weren’t being a good mother if you took any medication for the birth—which I found out later was total bunk) and bringing my young husband to tears, that we were blessed with a precious little girl. Our little family of two was now three and our hearts were immediately smitten. That night we looked out over the city lights of Fort Worth, Texas through the Harris Hospital window, holding our little Heather and we felt like we were the only ones in the whole world. The next day, grandparents all miraculously made their way to us and the journey as parents began.
Now forty years later I still remember so many small details of that time. Our little Heather grew from a toddler to being a big sister to Kara. She grew through the elementary years, middle school, then high school years. She entered the work force as a lifeguard, flight attendant, and sales person then graduated from college with her master’s degree. She married a sweet, kind young man named Lance and now is the mother of her own four children-a full family complete with a dog, cat and Suburban.
There were lots of details of life between all those growing up events. Many things that were life changing…things that seemed to go by at lightning speed. Things that helped Heather and me and all of our family grow closer and more dependent on God.
What I contemplate most today is how Heather is who she is by God’s beautiful grace. That little baby girl has grown up with a heart to serve, a heart to care, and a heart to love. She can whip up a gourmet meal and host a party of fifty at the drop of a hat. She makes time to have lunch and be a listening ear. She invites people over at Thanksgiving who are alone. I am prouder than I could have imagined in all my hopes and dreams as I held that baby girl the first time to now see the beautiful young lady she has become.
Life is made up of many memorable moments and this is one moment of which I need not be reminded but will always be in my heart.
Happy 40th birthday Heather Dawn!
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