Happy Birthday, Carianne Elizabeth

Today is my baby's 22nd birthday.  She's going to breakfast with her two best friends, Stephanie and Naomi, then I guess the girls are going to see a movie.  We are going to an early dinner with Sam and his parents then Cari and Sam will leave to go to the Angel Game tonight.  What a fun way to spend the day!

Dennis and I were talking about the day she was born this morning and we both felt as if we were transported back in time to that exact morning.  Isn't it funny how we can recall in such detail moments of wonderful emotional intensity?  I can still recall that moment when Bryan was born, too.

After Bryan was born, Dennis and I really didn't want any more children. Dennis was a grad student and I was working full time when Bry was little. It was too hard on me to leave that little guy each day.  Not only did I not want to leave more than one child in day care, I couldn't see how I could manage another child with working full time and having a husband who was working nearly full time and going to school 3/4 time.  Our life was so busy that it took all of our energy to make sure Bryan was getting his needs met. 

When Dennis finally got his advanced degree, Bryan was starting Kindergarten or first grade.  Once we were more settled financially, we decided it would be nice to add at least one more child to our family.  After a two years with no luck, I saw a specialist and was told that without fertility drugs I had little or no chance of having another child.  Dennis and I discussed it and having had friends who had twins by using the drugs they recommended for me, we decided that having one very healthy little boy was just fine and that were were very lucky to have HIM.

We went on about our lives.  Dennis' business got underway, I was able to leave my job and be a stay at home Mom and go back to college part time to finish my degree in psychology.  At this time, Bryan is about 9 years old, Dennis is 38 and I'm 34 years old.  We are happy and fulfilled.

In late September of 1983, my sister-in-law (we were speaking then, LOL) had gone to see a psychic.  She was amazed with her reading and encouraged me to go.  I don't really believe in that stuff but thought I would go out of curiosity and to prove to "L" that this woman was probably a con artist more than anything else.  I arrived at Dr. Maria's home and when she called me in for my appointment, I had to walk up stairs to her office.  As I went up the stairs, she greeted me by saying, "Oh, I see you're part of the baby boom."    "What?"  I asked.  "I see you're pregnant and you're going to have a little girl."  I was stunned.  I stopped short of the top step and looked her in the eye.  "I'm not pregnant!"  She nodded and laughed,  "Yes you are.  I see you with a little girl and it's your baby."   It pissed me off!  How could she say that to me!  I sat down for the reading and totally dismissed what she was saying to me because 80 percent of it had to do with the little blond baby girl who was coming into my life.  She was going to be very bright and very aloof.  Things would just go over her head and she would make it seem like nothing was sinking in.  (That is my Cari to a TEE!)  I was really ticked off when I had to pay her $75 to hear all that nonsense.

When I got home, Dennis asked how it went.  "We're going to have a baby girl."  I informed him sarcastically.  I went in the house and that was the last I spoke of the reading to him.  Friends that knew I was going called and when I told them they would not know what to say to me.  My closest friends know how much I had wanted another child and I know they were afraid her words were hurting me.

Now remember, the reading was around the third weekend in October.  It wasn't unusual for me not to have a cycle.  That's why I couldn't conceive.  I never had a cycle.  So when I went months without one I had no reason to check it out because I knew what the doctors had told me and I wasn't going to have a pregnancy test each time I was 2 months late.   On the second Sunday in December, Dennis and I were watching the Rams/Eagles football game.  During a break there was a commercial for chewing tobacco.  Just the thought of someone putting that stuff in their mouth made me so sick that I had to go into the bathroom and I got sick.  It was at that moment, I knew something was going on.  I did not usually throw up over chewing tobacco commercials.  When I came out of the bathroom, Dennis asked if I was OK.  I told him, "I'm either pregnant or I'm crazy."

The next day, Monday, I went into a clinic and had a free pregnancy test.  The nurse  came out,  "It's positive."  I almost fell over.   "You're sure?"  I gasped.  "Yep.  I did it twice."   I dashed home and called my doctor.  His nurse told me to come in the next day which I did.  They did an ultrasound and found this little vibrating kidney bean inside of me that they identified as an 11 week old fetus with a healthy heart beat and attached at a perfect place.   Oh, My God!  We could not believe it.  Thinking back to my appointment with Dr. Maria the psychic, I was probably 3 weeks pregnant when I saw her.  No way did I know and there was no way she could have known except to have picked it up the way psychic people pick things up.  Woooooo, very strange....   

On June 14th, 1984, my 7 lb. 1 oz. blond, hazel eyed baby girl made her entrance into the world.  It's funny because when some people find out my kids are 10 1/2 years apart they want to know if they are from 2 different marriages.  We just tell people "That's just how God worked it out".  I'm so glad that's how it happened.  We've had the pleasure of having children in our home for more than 30 years now.  It's what has kept us young at heart and given us such a positive outlook on life.  We're the only one our age who still have a college age kid at home and when our friends kid us about it, we just say, "And aren't we lucky?"

She has been a joy and very much worth all the years we waited for her to come to us.

Happy Birthday, Carianne.  I love you!   (((((((HUGS)))))))))