Children of the Heart........continued

As we drove together towards the store, Diane asked, “Mommy, Why did Liz have to go to the hospital to get her baby? Liz was a family friend who had just gone into active labor.

Figuring that the details from the recent TV special on the birth of a baby would be fresh in her mind, I answered, "Sweetie, Liz went to the hospital so the doctor could help her get the baby out of her uterus". (I’m a nurse, so I’d always used correct terminology concerning the human body with my kids.) Without batting an eye, Diane answered happily - more of a statement than a question - "just like I came out of your uterus, right Mommy?”

Before I could formulate my answer or get one word of explanation out of my mouth, my son who is 2 years and 2 months older than Diane, made sure he set her straight. You’d have to know Brian to really appreciate this verbal interaction. Brian does not mince words. Even as a very young child, Brian was smart, authoritative and outspoken. He knows the facts and he is going to deliver them whether you want to hear them or not. So he answers Diane loudly and emphatically, What are you talking about, you didn’t come out of Mommy’s uterus!

From the back seat I hear Diane burst into tears, she is sobbing like her little heart has just been broken. I pull the car over to the curb and turn around to comfort her. I feel like crying too. I wish I could assure her and myself, that "yes, indeed, you did come out of my uterus." But I have never been a very good liar, so instead I say as gently as I can, “It’s alright Diane, you can just make believe that you came out of Mommy’s uterus. I like to make believe that you came out of my uterus, too”.

Diane gradually stops crying and starts to calm down.

While she is calming down, I am thinking to myself that certain facts cannot be changed no matter how much you want them to be different. I wish I could tell Diane that she came out of my body. She wants that, and I want that, and I believe Brian wants that also. Life is full of longings but some of the things we long for, can never come to pass.

Here is another truth of my life. I prayed for children. God blessed me with children and I never once desired different children. I would not trade my beloved children for any other children. Not even a bunch of children who came out of my uterus. They have my heart no differently than if they came out of my very own uterus.