(If you want to hear Lori read this story click)here

 

When my mother went to her sixtieth high school reunion, she acted like a teenager. The gray and hobbled classmates gathered for a dinner of creamed corn and soft salmon. During dessert someone started singing. People who had trouble remembering where they put their glasses spouted out the words to songs they haven't sung since the forties, and rocked their arthritic limbs. My mother came home way past her bedtime, with pink in her cheeks.

 

"Even people who did not like me were happy to see me!"

 

The other day I got a text from a friend who was reeling from the news of a divorce. I texted back, trying to listen and comfort her in a one inch bar of letters. It was blusteringly sad to contemplate the demise of a couple we have both known and been blessed by. We resolved to support each other in the gale of heartbreak, and to pray.

 

Last week a friend told me she is expecting a baby. A smile sprang to my lips, and I threw my arms around her. Now it happens that I just saw the incredible footage of a days old fetus swimming inside the ocean of her mother's womb. The dividing cells are very like the wings of a butterfly. I marvel at the potential for this unborn child to bring joy to hundreds of lives.

 

One day he or she may go to her own sixtieth reunion, and start the music. 

 

 

 

 

conception to birth