“Hi, Grandma!” Alexis,
exclaims, “When are you coming to my tea party?”
“Soon,” I always say, “Very
soon, when I see you again.”
Of course, that’s seldom for us. You see, she
lives 6000 miles away in Germany and I only see her on a computer screen. Her
dad, my son Bobby, is stationed there with the Air Force along with the rest of
the family.
I remember the day he
enlisted. It was September 11, 2001 and it was a day that changed my life
forever. That day was not only the day of the terrorist attacks, but also the
day my 18 year old son left us forever. A few months later he graduated from
basic training in San Antonio, Texas and from there he went on to Biloxi for
further training and finally ended up in Albuquerque, New Mexico at Kirkland,
AFB. There, he met a little lady who could really make great tortillas. Her
name was Maria and next thing I knew they had eloped and set up residence in a
little house by the base. Then a few months later, we heard the announcement
that she was expecting their first baby. Bob and I were both thrilled! I was
going to be a grandparent; a young one, though; a very young one.
Anyway, the next thing
we knew, she had lost the baby. We were very sad at this announcement and we
all felt the loss very hard. I believed, however, that the little soul we never
knew was now in heaven worshipping the face of his or her heavenly Father and
we would meet them some day.
Before long, we had
heard that she was pregnant again and we rejoiced. And two years and two weeks
after they were married, she gave birth to their first live birth, a boy,
Robert the IV who is another story all by himself. Soon after he was born –
about 9 months later – she was pregnant yet again with another baby.
It was the spring of
2006 and Bobby was stationed in Korea. Maria and little Bobby came to visit us
in Plant City, Florida. It was during this visit that I got a phone call at
work one day and Bob’s voice was on it.
“Maria thinks she just had a miscarriage so
I’m rushing her to the hospital,” said the shaky voice on the phone. “You
better get off as soon as you can. Maria needs you.”
Immediately, my eyes filled
with hot burning tears and I was gasping for breath as if hit in the stomach,
so I took the afternoon off. By the time I got home, they were home from the
hospital.
“What happened?” I gasped as I rushed into the
living room. “It was a miscarriage, wasn’t it?”
“Maria lost some blood
today.” Bob replied.
“Did she lose the
baby?” I asked again.
Maria then spoke up.
“No, Laura, there’s
still a heartbeat. The nurse said everything checked out okay and the sonogram
came back as normal. They think it is a girl.”
“A girl! And she’s
still alive?”
“Yes, she’s still in
there.”
I gave her and Bob big
hugs and tears of joy flooded my eyes.
“Thank you, Lord,
hallelujah!” I exclaimed as we all felt greatly relieved and happy. And six
months later, Alexis Mercedes Bentz was born. Daddy came home from Korea
just in time to be there with his wife and new baby and we all rejoiced. To be continued…
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