Chapter 1: A Mother’s Beginning
Once upon a time. I know it's very cliche. Is this a fairy tale? Well, I would like to think so. I always tell my daughter she is a unicorn due to her red hair, so fitting for a fairy tale. Fairy tales always end with a happily ever after right? Well, this one is more like happily ever sporadically. Can anyone say they lived happily ever after? I don’t think so. Life is messy but it has bits of happiness and in those bits you close your eyes and soak them in. Those happy bits will get you through all the other messy ones. Life is a mashup of chaos, there is no balance. It will throw everything it's got at you. Knock you down, kick you in the gut. Just as you get back up, it will kick you again. When you're on your knees, close your eyes, wipe your face, stand up, and keep moving forward. That is living. Knowing what you are made of and how incredibly strong you are. Today was a hard day and I hurt. Take a deep breath, stand up and keep moving forward. Or like I always say “just keep swimming.”
This story is a mother and daughter's journey through a very hard and painful part of their life. It all starts with an adorable, freckle faced, red headed little girl. As a baby the poor thing would not stop crying, no joke nonstop. First we thought it was a formula issue so we changed it to soy. That didn't really do much. So I took my baby to the doctor. Now mind you this was almost 30 years ago, so doctors were different back then. Picture this, my new baby will not stop crying , her little body straightens flat as a board and her tummy is hard as a rock. So here we are at the doctor, at the time I thought, ok the doctor will help me. They will know what to do. Doctors almost had this super hero feel to them. Like “I am here to save the day”. I bring my crying baby in and they do all the things. Measure, weigh her, look in her ears, mouth, and nose. They take her temperature. Everything checks out. They tell me there is nothing wrong with this child. I am sitting there with a stunned face and say “ there has to be something wrong. She never stops crying, her body goes stiff like a board and you can not bend her. Her tummy is hard as a rock. Is it colic?” The doctor looked me dead in the face and said “ there is no such thing as a colicky baby, only colicky parents. (What does that even mean?) Your baby is just fine.” Wow, I walked out of there with no help and on top of it I paid this doctor to insult me. So with that information I didn’t know what to do but suck it up. Again at this point I still think doctors are basically all knowing right. So as long as she is growing. It must just be how she is. Right? The crying literally lasted for an entire year. Not even my family would watch her because all she did was cry. Riding in the car she would cry when we would go around a corner. Every corner! Car rides were brutal. Forget about going to a restaurant. I would sometimes let the rest of my family eat in the restaurant and I would take her out to the car and eat. It was a very long and difficult year. I felt so helpless. I did what I could to help keep her as comfortable as possible. Sometimes just taking her out in cold air would calm her down a bit. She was eating and meeting her milestones normally. It was just the constant and persistent crying. Fast forward to when she turned a year old. The crying has slowed way down (thank goodness). She is eating well, drinking milk with no issues, everything is going well. Now when I say well I mean well enough for the toddler phase. Keep in mind a red headed toddler no less. Stubborn, headstrong and a flare for the dramatic sums up a red headed toddler. All in all normal with a big plate of crazy. She has an older brother that is a year or so older than her. So two toddlers, fun times.
The good and healthy years. One, two, three, four, five, six (had another red headed baby girl at this point), seven, eight, nine, ten. Those were the days. Everyone was healthy and happy. These were the years to soak it all in. To savor the good times. We would need to call upon these years later to get us through all the messy bits to come. At the time you have no idea that a storm is coming. The skies are blue, the sun is shining, no sign that a huge devastating storm is about to hit. All goes to show you take each day as a gift. You never know what tomorrow will bring. Embrace all the moments and love the life you have now, today. In a blink of an eye everything can change. Make it count.
A little preview of my self help/ autobiography titled : Life's Messy Bits
Life can be very messy! Close your eyes, take a deep breath, stand up and keep moving forward.
Children's Books:
The Grandma Series is finished consisting of 6 books total. Find them all on Amazon or at any of my up coming events. (See Events Page.)
Not yet published but in the works:
I have a bonus book that will go with the Grandma Series titled: Adventures with Grandpa Billy.
Another children's book series titled: Who we are , with a total of 9 books
Suspenseful / Romance Novel titled: Wicked Charms (this one is very close to being finished!!)
And my Self Help/ Autobiography titled: Life's Messy Bits
Hope you enjoyed this little taste of Life's Messy Bits and remember to follow me and be the first to know when all these great books will be released. I'm So Excited!!
Keep Smiling until next time :)
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