Thursday, July 27, 2006

Life Goes On

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.

-Robert Frost


Life does go on, doesn't it? How many times do you hear that in your life time? When you were a child, and maybe you didn't get the pony your heart was set on for your eighth birthday. Or when you were fourteen and the most popular boy didn't ask you to the school dance.

The disappointments were sometimes devastating, but life did go on. As time passed, the hurt faded and healing occurred. Eventually, the pain of the event grew less, until you hardly ever thought about it again.

My family experienced one of those moments this month. My daughter discovered she was pregnant and we all rejoiced with happiness. This would be the first grandchild on both sides of the family so many plans were made and talked about.

But, it wasn't meant to be. Only a few short weeks into the pregnancy, my daughter lost the baby and miscarried. For her it was anguish; for us bitter disappointment at the loss of so much potential. We mourned for our lost family member, the tiny child that would strengthen the bonds of our families. We mourned for my daughter, having to lose something so precious. And, we mourned for each other. The loss affected each one of us so differently.

However, each day the sun rose and each evening it sat again. The days passed. Life went on. The world didn't stop to honor our grief, even though we expected the whole world to understand. The dark days passed and the light grew brighter. Now, we can talk about it without tearing up.

And, best of all, my daughter is talking about getting pregnant again.

Life goes on.