 |
| Caleb Turned Out Just Fine |
One of my stories had its beginnings in a real-life entry into the world. This was the birth of Caleb, the third grandson for Hank and me. Caleb was the third child of our third adopted child and I'd been invited to his birth-day party--in the delivery room. Hank dropped Jenny and I off at the Grey Nuns Hospital for her "induction" ceremony.
After a morning of observation and I.V., Jenny was told we could go home, go shopping, or whatever we, or she, wanted while we waited for her contractions to come closer together. When Jenny mentioned to the nurse that not all of her contractions had registered on the machine, the nurse explained that this was normal.
"My last baby came early," Jenny added.
"You certainly can stay, if you're concerned," the nurse told her.
Jenny and I exchanged a glance. "It's up to you, Jenny," I told her. "Remember, I'm the new kid on this block." (Reminder to reader: All three of our children had been adopted.) Hank came to pick us up and take us back to Jenny and Rob's home, which was a 25-minute drive from the Grey Nuns. That is where most of the family was hanging out and babysitting the rest of the grandkids.
I'll leave you to guess what happened from there, but I called this story, "Special Gift, Special Delivery." My version of the story was published in Western Producer on October 26, 2006 under the headline, "Experience in barn makes baby's quick debut easier." And I was not the experienced one!
"Special Gift, Special Delivery" was later published in the January-February, 2009 issue of Celebrate Life, which is the flagship magazine of the American Life League. I had entertained, or inspired, readers of two magazines with two different readerships and I had also received a check from each of the publishers.
I am reluctant to retell the whole story, because I may do a rewrite for another publication, possibly an anthology with themes related to adoption, pro-life, farming, parenting, grandparenting. . .
Wow, Sharon, you sure know how to pique a reader's curiosity. I think it's a great idea to publish this again.
ReplyDeleteBlessings as you rewrite it ~ Wendy Mac
Have fun rewriting this story of an incredible gift! I wonder if all these years later you will remember other little details from that experience that you will want to include this time around.
ReplyDeleteOh yes! I hope you do republish this story!
ReplyDeleteThank you. fellow writers--Wendy, Vickie, and Tracy--for the three cheers to working on that. The two iterations, so far, are almost identical, but when I got going on "the story behind the story," I started to wonder if this could be retold another way. I also got a separate e-mail from another InScribe friend giving me a hint as to where I might send a retold version.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this great post Sharon. I enjoy stories of the birth of children. I also encourage you to do a rewrite. An anthology sounds good. Keep on writing my friend.
ReplyDelete