Taking Leave

Grandma prayed that the delivery would be quick and easy. Especially after your brother decided to make a slow and painful entry into this world two years earlier. God granted her prayers and I started dilating one whole month before you were born. It was a series of small pains and when the day came, Daddy and I went out for a late movie and I was awakened early the next morning before the light with what I thought was "just stomach cramps." We rushed to the hospital and got there just in time to labor for a few short hours, and three pushes later you were among us. I will never forget the way your Daddy seemed to forget me and just followed you around the room as the nurses cleaned you up and weighed you. When he finally looked over at me his look seemed to say, "Look at this beautiful creature that God made, look what we did!" I could see that the sun was just beginning to peek up above the trees and I knew that sunshine had been born in my life that day.

Today you leave me, not for the first time, but most certainly the beginning of the last time. I had prayed that your going would be easier. Especially after your brother left two years ago and I thought I might never feel whole again. But God granted my prayers and you only brought us a few small pains and now that the day has come I feel like it snuck up on me. You came into my world crying and now I'm the one crying as you leave it. Daddy followed you around helping you pack up the truck and get ready to go. Then you drove away with the man I've shared you with all these years, and I am absolutely certain as he leaves you today and cries his own tears he will be thinking, "Thank you God for letting me help form this beautiful creature," and the sun is just beginning to rise for you my darling beautiful girl. Don't ever forget that you're my sunshine.