November

November is such a bittersweet month for me - we have a LOT of milestones in November.

November holds a lot of beginnings, and endings.

November holds the happiest and saddest moments of my life.

Here's a rundown of all our momentous dates - and check back for reflection on these events!

Beginning: 11.18.78 - the day Chad was born, without him the rest would never have happened. I wonder what Betsy and Jim thought as they stared at their newborn baby? What path did they envision him walking? As each birthday passed did they guess at what the future held?

which leads to.....

Beginning: 11.15.03 - the happiest (til that point) day of my life. The beginning of "Bridie Sellers", the end of "Bridie Saldanha", and the beginning of sharing the ups and downs of life, safe in the knowledge that I always had someone to walk beside me.

which leads to...

Ending: 11.18.03 - how quickly life can change. On this day began and ended the life of Ella Mae. She took a few brave breaths in the arms of my mother. How amazing the impact of such a tiny life. How strange to miss someone to much, even with the knowledge that without her loss

we never would have celebrated...

Beginning & Ending: 11.17.04 - After 82 days, Gavin Gatsby was carried out of the NICU, wearing a puffy-painted custom onesie saying "Happy Birthday" to dad. I somehow managed to not have any of the staff let Chad know Gavin was close to coming home, b/c I wanted the ultimate birthday suprise. Well, when I made my usual 5 am visit that day I found out we were free! I raced to Target on MLK (no longer there), bought a onesie and puffy paint and frantically tried to get it to dry before Chad made his mid-morning visit. It was the beginning of life as we know it, and the end to our NICU journey.

What does November 2009 bring?

beautiful weather
Gavin making great strides in school
Sam crawling
Festival of Trees - my first huge volunteer commitment
realization that "normal" kids get sick plenty too, not just the super preemies, and along that line, lots of doctors visits, ibuprofen, and tubes

Happy November!