A Bittersweet Day

I told you yesterday that today was going to be tough—and it was, in some ways, as I’ll explain. But the day started with a massive joy spark that cast a glow over the whole day also. I awoke to a text from my friend Anita saying that her daughter Janet (our adopted “niece”) was in the operating room having a C-section to give birth to her first child.

Over the next couple of hours, I heard that the little girl was born safely, followed by an adorable photo, followed by several interactions with Janet herself, wherein I learned the baby’s name: Siobhan Wanjiru Kawonga. I cannot wait to meet this little lady later this year! Since Janet had to be rushed into surgery before her due date, her husband wasn’t able to be with her for the birth because he had to travel from Mkushi, where he is teaching. But she had his parents there, and her parents will be arriving from Sri Lanka next week. I am impatiently waiting for Janet to send me more photos.

Walter and Jasper took off this morning to do some more work for a friend from church, and a little bit later I took my smiling self off to get my hair cut. I am so thrilled about Janet’s baby. My hair guy and I had a wide-ranging conversation, as we always do. I had him cut off more than usual because my hair has gotten so thin it’s getting kind of embarrassing. So when he was working on it, he examined it very closely and reported that I have a lot of new hair growing in, ranging in length from one-half inch to about four inches. That gives me hope that maybe things will look a lot better a year from now. I’m not sure exactly what my hair is recovering from, but it’s reassuring to know I’m not going bald. Yet.

After the haircut I walked over to Target to look for wrapping paper. I will have some gifts to wrap in the months before we leave, including some for my son that we’ll be taking to Colorado. In the past I have found some delightfully nerdy wrapping paper at Target, so that’s why I looked there specifically. Alas, they disappointed me this time. However, I found some paper that my son would absolutely hate, so naturally I bought it. I’m thoughtful that way.

I had the house to myself for an hour or so before Robin came over for tea. I had laundry to do and corned beef to cook (we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day early since we won’t be here next week). And that’s when I also had time to be very sad. You see, someone else was born today, apart from little Siobhan and Olivia, my neighbor Kim’s daughter who turned eighteen today. Twenty-eight years ago, in 1998, March the 13^th also fell on a Friday. Like Janet, I also had a C-section—my first, although it was my sixth baby.

We were all in love with her from day one. Well, except maybe Spencer:

He wasn’t too thrilled to have a little sister at first, but he came around. She was like a little ray of sunshine in our lives.

Which makes it so hard to have this day go by with no contact from her. We both sent her birthday wishes but heard nothing back. She is the third daughter to utterly reject us. Five years ago, we were close:

This is a photo of me with my lovely daughter at her wedding—in our backyard, during the pandemic. The following year she moved away, assuring me that she loved me and would never reject me. Yet here we are. I hope she had a wonderful, fabulous day and felt loved by those around her. I miss her terribly.

So I’m glad I had such good news today, and also a visit from Robin. And in between everything else I did, I prayed for my daughter and also prayed that I’d find something. After our last road trip, I splurged on some inflatable cushions that are supposed to make long trips much more comfortable. I set them aside for our next trip, which is coming up on Sunday, and guess what? I couldn’t find them. I thought I had looked everywhere, but this evening I found them at last—right where I left them! Thank goodness.

The guys enjoyed their dinner of corned beef, cabbage, soda bread, and potatoes. I always get red cabbage when I can because it’s so dang pretty:

Now all I have to do tomorrow is pack everything and also have a friend over for dinner.

Joy Spark: You know what it is! That new baby!

Parting Shot:

The haircut.