Mistaken Identity
My dear friend Cherry is having her baby today…as we speak, she’s going in to O.R. for her c-section, and I’m expecting a call and can hardly contain myself! Breath, J, breath.
OK, but of course Cherry having her baby reminded me of when I had my baby, lo these many years ago. I wanted what any new mom wants right then…my mom. So we planned for my mom to fly from Juneau, Alaska (where she was living), to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (where we were living). At this sad point, I hadn’t seen my mom in about 3 years. A few weeks after Ted and I were married in ’93, my mom moved to Alaska. The following summer, Ted and I moved to Pennsylvania. Money was tight, flights that far are expensive, blah blah blah. Anyway, the cheapest flight she could find was a red-eye, and when you fly from Juneau, you make several stops anyway…minimum of Seattle, often Anchorage and a smaller airport or two, plus the whole crossing the country thing. So when we went to pick her up at the airport, I expected her to be TIRED. (Remember when you could go to the gate to meet family and friends off of flights? We were waiting for her to appear from that little door, the portal between flight and solid ground.) What I didn’t expect was for her to look as tired as she did. Or for her to be so tired that she didn’t recognize me. As I rushed over to give her a big hug, I was horrified to realize that I was approaching the WRONG 50-something, 275 lb, redhead, who used a cane. I mean, really. How many 50-something, 275 lb, redheads, who use a cane do you expect to find on one flight? I only expected one. There were two. What a relief to realize that even though almost 3 years had passed since I had last seen her, she hadn’t changed THAT much.
Then, of course, her bright cheery face appeared from that little door, and she lit up at the sight of us, and gave us BIG hugs, and was thrilled to see me so pregnant and know that she was going to be there when her grand-daughter was born. And yes, she was tired. Maya didn’t arrive for almost a week after that, though, so she was well rested. 🙂
6 Comments
Linda Atkins
That is a HILARIOUS story. The picture of Maya and your mom is touching, and also makes me sad that your mother is gone, so I’d say you hit several extremes (this is good!) in this one post.
Donna
I remember when Spence was born. I didn’t see my Mom and Dad for two weeks after as my Mom had to have an emergency procedure on her eyes to relieve the pressure from her glaucoma. She had it done 2 days before I went in to have Spence and was extremely upset at the doc when he said she couldn’t travel for 2 weeks. My sister was in town tho, so that was cool.
CuriosityKiller
That’s such an endearing story, J. Hugs!
The day my mom arrived to California last November, my sister gave birth. It was insane. My mom stayed with them for 2 months and left teary-eyed. Then I sent her back to visit the baby again a few months later, and the baby recognized her. The moment she came through the front door of their home, the baby saw her and smiled.
That night, while skyping, she told me the 17 hour flight was worth every second.
Wanderlust Scarlett
What a funny story!!!
Glad that she was able to be there when Maya was born. That’s absolutely priceless.
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
MarkSpizer
great post as usual!
C
Tee hee! Great story, J! 🙂 I love that photo of your Mom and Maya. How wonderful for her to be able to be there for that special moment. I wish my Mom were able to be with me. She was in the Philippines when Little One arrived unexpectedly.
Can’t wait to see pics of Cherry and Eric’s little one!!