Life is a funny/amazing/complex/convoluted/wonderful thing. A gal I work with has gone on maternity leave and could very well at this very moment be laboring to deliver her baby girl. I told her the other day that I wasn’t sure what it had been like for her, but it seems like her pregnancy has flown by. And now baby girl is on her way. Such exciting news and I’m so happy for her. This is the 2nd child for her and her husband. They have a toddler also, so once her 12 weeks maternity leave is up, she’ll be returning to work just two days a week. I have to admit a slight pang of jealousy. Not about the two day a week work week, but yes that would be lovely too, but I remember those days at home with my son. Such fond memories. I’m so thankful to have my son, but I always thought I would have more children. It hasn’t worked out that way, and there are moments when I grieve for what could have been.
Then reality smacks me in the face with a reminder to be grateful for all I have. I work for an insurance company and today one of the groups I handle notified us of the sudden, unexpected death of an employee who wasn’t even 40 years old. I started gathering the necessary paperwork for her family to file a claim on her life insurance, and the enrollment form she had signed was dated exactly one year before the day she died. To the day. It gave me chills.
We have no guarantees. Babies are born, people die. That’s every day’s business. When we’re born a few people rejoice; when we die a few people grieve, but in either scenario the world keeps moving. I guess the big decision is, How do you choose to fill the in between?
Liza Jane Writes . . . 