One more recycled post. I have to say though, today has been easier than I thought it would be. Guy did in fact follow Lovely's advice and buy me roses, and they are beautiful. Also, I attended a couple of the recitals from my old job and saw a bunch of old friends. Twice, I was asked about the baby, and twice, I was able to talk about it without crying. In fact, one of them asked me (when we were away from the crowds) if I was pregnant, with a very tentative question mark. I told him that I was, but am not now. He started to tell me how sorry he was, and I said something that later I thought was very interesting.
I said, "We made it 12 weeks."
That is the first time I have answered that question without a negative in the statement. The anger is waning. The sadness has begun to find its way in beside the happiness I had at being pregnant. They are starting to be able to coexist. I am thankful for the the time we had, and I have been waiting a long time to say that.
This week, I've been thinking a lot about Bon's post on Real Moms. If I never get to read another blog post, this one will have made the all the difference to me. I find comfort in it, yet it touches something so deep in me that I still can't talk about it to anyone.
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms reading. Especially the ones who have children that we cannot see. Thank you for those words, Bon.
Dear Cleatus,
Yes, I am aware that you have a ridiculous name. For that, you can blame your uncle. We were working on a name that you would be called throughout your life, but as you can see, I'm still calling you Cleatus. Now, it reminds me of how silly-happy-giddy we were about you being created. Your whole family was excited, right down to your cousins. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to keep calling you Cleatus. It makes me smile and reminds me of how much I laughed while we were together.
Your family is home now. While we were away, cards came in the mail telling us how happy people were about you. I told lots of our friends about you in our Christmas cards. They were so glad for us. I also got your baby book in the mail. It is really nice. I won it in a raffle for Her Bad Mother's nephew and Muscular Dystrophy research. In the spirit of my often untimely and slightly inappropriate laughter, I thought to myself when I opened it, "Well this is going to be a short book."
I am sitting in your room now. In our rocker. And I miss you. I am determined not to be that mother who burdens her children with her pain. I will not ask you or your siblings to shoulder my grief. I just want you to know that I miss you. It is empty here without you.
Today, we stopped in Montreat and took Lovely to the spot where Guy and I were married this summer. It was a place I wanted to take you as well. The creek had risen and drowned out the noise my breathing made as I tried not to cry. You would have gone to kids' camps and youth conferences in Montreat. We would have rock hopped together. I bought a book in the bookstore there that was about helping women deal with grief after miscarriage. The last page said something like this:
The depth of your grief is a measure of the love you have for your child. If there was no love, there would be nothing to grieve.
If that is true than I love you more deeply than I had even thought was possible.
I don't know if I believe in heaven or not. I wish that I did now. I wish that I could imagine you somewhere that we could be together again someday. If it is true, and you are not simply just gone, then I hope you can hear me when I still talk to you. When I still play for you. You can ignore the whole crying thing though. I'm told that will subside with time, and I will be okay.
If I believe that you are not simply just gone though, then it leaves me to worry about if you are alright and if you know how much you are loved. Yes, your mother is a bit loony. Sorry about that.
The walls of your room are missing and there is no light. Part of me wants to shut the door and never open it again, another part of me wants to never leave it. I can sit in here, in the dark, and no one wants to come in. There is only our rocking chair and piles of my junk. This weekend your daddy promised to get the sheet rock up and buy me a treadmill. We are going to put it in your room. If I am going to think about you nonstop, then the least I can do is work off those milkshakes you asked for. By the way, thanks for that. You stinker.
This didn't turn out how I wanted it too. Well, I guess more than one thing applies there. Your life didn't turn out how I wanted it too, but I meant this letter. I wanted to tell you about what I had planned and dreamed for us. I wanted to tell you about what I picked out for your nursery and the Mother's Morning Out programs I had thought about so that you could make friends. I wanted to tell you about the Jeep that Guy bought me and deemed the Mommymobile. I could fit all my gear and a baby seat too. You and I were going to gigs.
Truth is though, those things are not for you now. They will be for your sibling. You did not need those things from me.
There will be a time when I can be thankful for the life we did have together. I am already, but the pain of losing you so before getting to see you and hold you is making it hard to remember how grateful I am to have had you as long as I did. I was already proud of you.
I will always be proud of you. I will always love you. You will always be my first baby. Thank you for showing me that I can love enough to be a mother.
With Love,
Your Mom
I'm turning off comments because I'm alright, and I don't want to be that friend who you always have to comfort. You all have done more than your fair share of that, and I appreciate it so very much. Thank you for all the love and care you have shown. It is what has gotten me this far.
