Passages (Maggie)

I apologize for my post being so late today and also for it being rather brief. It's been a very difficult couple of days. My daughter Jessica miscarried this week, and the entire family is grieving. I hate seeing my daughter in pain, as any mom would. If only our offspring came with a little remote control device that parents could use to transfer hurts from them, to ourselves. I'd use it in a heartbeat. But that not being possible, all we can do is continue to love and support each other. And we're fortunate that in this family, that's a given.

I have always believed that souls choose their families. Some choose more challenging ones than others. Some choose beautiful parents, like my Jessie and her husband Ben. Sometimes, something goes wrong with the physical body slowly growing in the womb, though, and I really believe that those little souls simply withdraw when that happens, and then try again later. So in my mind, there is no loss here. Only a delay. Still, it's a sad time for me and my clan.

But as always in the case in life, there are good things unfolding too. Last night, my fourthborn daughter Stacie graduated from nursing school, and we all gathered at the ceremony to cheer her on. She has worked harder than anyone I've ever met, toward this wonderful goal. She's held down a demanding full time job while attending classes full time too! She's ambitious, and brilliant, not to mention gorgeous, caring, and giving, and wonderful. Stacie has already landed her first job, at a local hospital. She's at the beginning of a whole new life, and I know she'll be a wonderful nurse.

Honestly, I've been blessed with my girls. They're such a gift to the world, they really are. Lisa's at a new beginning, re-entering college at summer's end. Katie is at a new beginning, moving into a new home almost as we speak. Jena's nearing an ending that is also a beginning, as her own pregnancy progresses toward it's end, with a brand new baby due in August. And I'm in the temporary stasis between ending and beginning, as the reconstruction of my home marches slowly on.

So this week my family has been through endings and beginnings. But I think life is a constant series of these, isn't it? Little ones, and big ones, and gigantic life altering ones. Sad ones and happy ones. Scary ones and wonderful ones. Cycles, unending, but spiraling ever onward.

And so it goes.

Maggie