The Three Best Days of My Life (really really 4)

 Everyone has 'best days,' I think.   They can range from getting a promotion or moving out of their parents house or turning 21 or completing a degree.  Sometimes they are unique---a one of a kind 'best day' that is particular to that person which may mean absolutely nothing to anyone else.  

My three (actually four) best days are these:

1.  August 7, 1976 - the day Gary and I were married.  Sometimes I think it is a cliche to say "This is the day I married my best friend" but it was the day that I did marry the best friend I have ever had.  He will be my best friend forever.  He knows me better than anyone else does.  He loves me and I love him.  He will never ever leave me---I am sure of that.  We have built a great life together and I would rather be with him and do things with him than with any other person I know.

2.  April 8, 1981 - the day I became a mother. I remember being in labor with Megan on April 7 and hoping that she would be born that day so it would be the third special "7th" in our family ---my birthday May 7 and our anniversary and then our baby's birthday.  But she was stubborn and waited until after midnight to arrive.  She had a football shaped head which scared me, but Dr. Wolf and Dr. Lipp both assured me that it was the result of forceps and would return to a normal baby shape, which it did.  I remember later that morning, like around 6 or so, after Gary had left to return to Mike's apartment and get some sleep.  The nurse brought Megan in for a feeding, and I just held her and cried.  She was such a beautiful baby and she was ours.  I was a mother.  Gary was a father.  We were a family.  She was MY baby and no one was taking her from me.  My heart was bursting with love and I didn't know how I could love anyone more than I loved her.

3.  Then came April 19, 1984. Hilary Rose was born.  It was a difficult labor and delivery, two weeks ahead of her due date.  My water broke on a Tuesday and she was born finally on Thursday afternoon.  Lots of labor, then no labor, then drugs to start labor more intensely (and boy did they work!), and finally delivery of that little dark haired 5 pounds 9 ounces baby girl.  I remember being so relieved she was a girl.  I was so glad Megan could have a little sister.  My heart just burst with love again and I didn't know how I could love anyone more than I loved her and her sister and their father.   Our famly was complete.   The big shocker was when Gary left to bring Megan back to the hospital so she could meet her little sister.  I remember being in the family room with Hilary and I saw Gary walking down the hall toward us with a big girl.  I wondered what had happened to Megan and where he found this other girl ....I actually thought there were other people with them because that girl was too big for the little 3 year old I had left a few days before with her grandparents.  Watching Megan met her sister, placing Hilary in Megan's arms, seeing the love in Megan's eyes as she bent down to kiss her baby sister on the forehead---those are images that are forever etched in my mind.  

4.  Earlier tonight I told the girls these three dates and I forgot to mention the fourth one---October 20, 2002.  That is the day Gary and I were baptized at the Christian Church in Francesville. The decision was not made lightly, especially since I had been sprinkled at Westville with Grandma, Mom, and Greta when I was in college and Gary had been baptized soon after his birth in the Lutheran Church.  But we wanted to do this so we could make our true confession.  What made it more special was that Blaine baptized us (and he wasn't our son-in-law yet) and Alex was baptized with us also.  Making that decision is the best decision we could ever make and made the other three best days of my life even more meaningful (especially since we had been married in that church, then both girls were also married in that church).  

Today Megan turned 40.  Hilary will be 37 in 11 days.  I will be 70 next month, We will be married for 45 years.  I am not sure where time has gone, why it has flown by, and why I feel so old.  But I am happy that I have spent most of my life with the three most important people ever---My husband Gary and our two daughters Megan Elizabeth and Hilary Rose.  I love the three of them with all of my heart.