My Birthday Letter from Mother

by Jen_F | Jen_F, Musings

I didn’t really think about this being my 60th birthday, since by my count, I’m only 10 and still too young to date, but I suppose it was a milestone birthday in many ways.

I got the following in a card from Mother and wanted to share it here with everyone….. not that anyone else might care how this special brat baby came into the world ……   It’s the memories that count.

July 12, 2013

My darling daughter, Jennifer.

If I had been on the ball and if you had been born in the spring, fall or winter, we could have thrown you a super-duper happy 60th birthday bash.

Instead, you have a mother who bought you this fantastic card, telling you how wonderful you were and how happy I was to have you as my daughter, only to find, I had stored away “somewhere” with all of this month’s cards I carefully bought last month.

I had bought this crazy (couldn’t resist) one earlier for you when you were down with the “foot/cane” syndrome.  Fortunately, I had stuck it in my waiting for birthdays, etc., file,  so will be content to send it along and otherwise just tell you how much I love and respect  you.

How well I remember your dad and I deciding we could “afford” another baby.  He had gotten a $25/mo or so raise and the time between you and Deb would be just right so without fear we moved on with our “we are going to have another baby” routine.

Your gestation time was uneventful and pleasant until the move to Conroe in early summer when you were due in 2 months.  You even survived my ingesting way too many crabs when we camped out on the Gulf coast beach, happily catching and boiling the crabs, giving away many, but I ate a LOT and soon afterward was allergic to crab for quite awhile.

It was cloudy that day and your dad forgot that sitting around on the beach without his shoes on was likely to cause a sunburn – clouds or not.  Poor thing.  He couldn’t wear his boots for about a week.

Moving along toward your birth date, I had found a wonderful GYN, we made plans within the family how we were going to manage everything while I was in the hospital and soon after return.

Pat, although just 6 was to do the laundry in the garage, and on a stool hang the clothes on the line.  This was her idea, not mine.  There was a very deep drainage ditch not far from the clothes line and I worried that she might fall but all went well and we continued to have clean clothes for awhile.

Your dad was to work in the Texaco office for a few weeks so he could be handy in case something went wrong during the day.

Sunday, July 12, 1953, at almost exactly 6:00 p.m., ok – Daddy, think we might need to move on to the hospital – pains have begun.  Having had Deb very quickly, I was fearful of being too far from the hospital – just in case.

That was a good move.  You were born about 9:15 or so.  You were in a hurry to get into this world and get busy and that you did.

When you were born, doctor commented “this one is going to be different” and so my darling, unique Jennifer had made her entrance into our world.

Unfortunately, despite my telling the doc that I could deliver without anesthetic, he told me he needed it since he had just come up from the morgue where he had viewed the body of his best friend who had been in a truck that hit a horse.

Doc was rattled and was honest enough to tell me so.  He also was honest enough to tell me he had “hit” me in the wrong spot in the first spinal attempt and I was going to have what they called “spinal headaches.”  Did I ever – for almost 3 months.  For quite a few weeks, I couldn’t lift my head off the pillow without blacking out with blinding headaches.

This pushed the family, Dad, 6 year old Pat, 2 ½ year old Deb and me, to make big adjustments.

Pat now was also helping with breakfast and lunch so Dad could spend some time with you during his lunch break.  The elderly lady next door came every day to bathe you.  Pat and Deb handled the bottles and since  you were born at night, you continued to believe that you should be awake   all night and sleep all day.

I couldn’t get up to rock you because of the headaches but Dad would when you cried and you seemed to always be hungry.  I think you were born with hypoglycemia, looking back on it.

I remember one night about midnight, Dad was rocking you, you stopped crying and gave him a big grin. He said -”don’t you grin at me”.

We moved on with your sisters changing diapers during the day, playing with you when you were awake. It was a really good experience for us all. The family unit could survive by pulling together.

That October we moved on to Hempstead. After more months of this crying a good part of the night and sleeping in the daytime, I finally went to the local doctor and said “I need help with this baby’s sleep habits.” He tells me he can fix you in 3 days.

“What”, I asked???

He said when he brought his babies home from the hospital, he gave them a meds to help them sleep through the night for 3 days and after that they would. When I asked why he hadn’t offered that to me before, he commented that parents should suffer a little and laughed – but he was right and you became the happy camper at night and our sweet playful baby in the daytime.

Time marched on. You became your own sweet, cute, fiesty, innovative, unique self that we love so much and are so proud of.

Always know how much I love you.

Have a wonderful birthday. Sorry we can’t have a big bash for such a milestone.

Love, Mother

Thank you Mother, for sharing this.  Oh, and thanks for ingesting way too many crabs…. Perhaps that’s where I get my unnatural love for seafood, crabs included.  LOL

PS:  Thanks for the picture.  Mother says that is me at 11 months old.

Til the next time…

You’re never too young or too old  … So ……

Live Every Moment,

    Love Beyond Words,

Laugh Everyday,

~Jennifer