NOVEMBER 26

 


This is one of my favourite pictures of 7-year-old Jessica performing the song I LOVE YOU, LORD on the dining room table to an audience of friends and family.  She called it the EAR SONG after the words in the lyrics LET IT BE A SWEET, SWEET SOUND IN YOUR EAR.



In the early hours of Friday 26 November 1999, 35 days before Y2K, a 27-year-old mother recognises the signs of early labour.  She doesn’t raise alarm about it, because her C-section is scheduled for noon on that same day, at 38 weeks gestation.  This precious little bundle of joy is baby number four, the one destined to complete her family of six.  None of the antenatal ultrasound scans could confirm, without reasonable doubt, the new baby’s gender.  If she gives birth to ALEXANDER AMADEUS, then she will have three boys and a girl, but if she gives birth to JESSICA, then she will have two boys and two girls.  At exactly 13:13 JESSICA made her way into the world, weighing in at 3.03kg and measuring 49cm head-to-toe.


Daynah, an almost-life-size plastic doll with a squishy body, one of her first birthday gifts became JESSICA’S favourite companion.  They became inseparable.  JESSICA didn’t go anywhere without Daynah, she was like her twin.  Whatever she did, Daynah had to do also.  Over the years, Daynah developed some indelible war scars and by the time the two of them finally parted ways, Daynah had lived a full life and she deserved her final, permanent rest.  


“Is it November 26 today?”  “No, my sweet Pooki, it is January 10 and there are 10 months and 21 more days until November and then 26 days before it will be November 26.  I’m sorry!”  Another frequent conversation which took place between JESSICA and her mommy almost on a daily basis.  First she learned about the months of the year and then she learned how to count to 26 and beyond, but the question continued to pop up every time her little heart needed something exciting to look forward to. 


“Daddy, did you switch the illarm on?”  “Yes Gesiggie, the alarm is activated.” This simple conversation which took place between JESSICA and her daddy every time her family left their home.  Even by the time the house alarm eventually became a dysfunctional illarm, JESSICA’S daddy would always reassure her, because he knew that she needed security in a dynamic world where almost nothing important to a little girl, is ever in any absolute state.  Not commencement/conclusion times.  Not doctors’ appointments.  Not arrival/departure times of any form of transportation.  Not hospital admissions/discharges.  Nothing.  Nowhere.  Never.


But faithfully, November 26 rolled around every year and little JESSICA transformed into a confident, strong & beautiful young woman, wife to Martin and mother to six-week-old Alex.  She no longer finds her security in the absolutes, but rather, she has become a resolute force of fierce female strength, a beacon of safety and security to her husband, baby boy and others.


My baby girl, JESSICA, is 25 years old today and I am so indescribably proud of her!  Like her, I am also so unbelievably grateful for the wisdom of God Almighty to not allow foolish 27-year-old me to name a baby boy AMADEUS 35 days before the start of the 21st century….!


HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY, MY PRECIOUS BELOVED POOKI!!

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