Life goes on...

Today is Sunday... it is Father's Day. A little baby was born today to the daughter-in-law and oldest son of my friend Fran who passed away on May 30th. Fran's oldest son is now a dad. Fran's younger son is an uncle. Fran's husband will now be called 'grandpa.'

The baby is little girl.... they named her Emily Frances. Fran's husband called to tell me..... I cried when he told me the baby's name..... and then I cried again when I told my husband.

When Fran was still with us, she called me to talk about her impending grandmother status..... she was so excited. We both were. We talked about when her two sons were born... how she was so inexperienced with her oldest son, and not so worried with her second son. Lessons learned along the way.

I had told Fran that if her son J and his wife had a baby girl, I would give them my gold baby bracelet. My dad bought that bracelet for me on my first birthday... I wore it for years and years, till it no longer fit. My Aunt Dolly saved it, as she saved everything.... and when my dad passed away three years ago, I found my little baby bracelet in his jewelry box.

Friends had babies... cousins had babies.... friends' children had babies... I kept the bracelet. When Fran told me about her son's baby-on-the-way, I told Fran that I would be hoping for a little girl..... and I would give my gold baby bracelet to her son for his baby daughter. I told Fran that I had been waiting for the 'right baby' to be born.... and her son's child, if it was a girl, would be the 'right baby' for my bracelet.

Weeks and weeks ago, I took that bracelet to a local jeweler... had it polished up a bit... it looks like new..... or about as 'new' as a bracelet from the early 1950s is going to look. I will wrap it up in a pretty box.... I'm going to start buying little girl baby books and clothes and gifts. When we see Fran's family, I will give the bracelet and the gifts to her son and his wife for their baby... Fran's first grandchild.

Fran passed away on May 30th. The baby was born today, June 19th. This is one of those days when I have to wonder why, if there is indeed a god in this universe, why why why couldn't the first date have been weeks or months later, or the second date have been weeks or months sooner?! More than anything, Fran wanted to hold her 'first baby's baby' in her arms.

And I can hear my husband's mom saying No matter what happens in this world, life goes on in a sensible way.