What Can Happen in 7 Years...

"Can I be in the delivery room with you when you have this baby?" my mom pleaded.

This request somewhat repulsed me throughout my pregnancy. I had imagined the moment of bringing my firstborn into this world with my loving husband beside me, encouraging me to push, and then upon seeing our child, tears would emerge from our eyes. A movie moment, if you will. Having my mother there was NOT part of that plan.

Yet at 2:42 a.m. on January 24th, 2006, my mom was holding my leg, my dad was at my head, and a loving husband was nowhere in sight. There were no tears when Averey Monica made her grand entrance; just smiles and pure joy. Not how I pictured the moment, but it is just the beginning of our story.

I will always treasure the memories of my friends and co-workers being so supportive. My BF Steph hung out in my delivery room for several hours, another friend Heather stopped up after her shift (just in time for the nurse to break my water), and the big-brother-I-never-wanted, Deuane, was there to greet me on the maternity floor at 4:30 in the morning when I arrived with Averey. Later that morning and throughout my stay, many of my co-workers flooded my hospital room to visit, and it still brings a smile to my face.

But it seems like another lifetime so far away. I am constantly humbled by my life now, knowing the turmoil I was in during that time. I have recently read my journal entries from that stage in my life, and it was like a long, drawn-out episode of "The Jerry Springer Show": husband cheats on pregnant wife, husband shacks up with girlfriend with four children of her own, estranged wife left to be a single mother. Yet through all of the insanity, the bizarre phone conversations, and at times, being made to be the villian in the whole train wreck, I can look back and forever be thankful. He unknowingly did me a huge favor.

The idea of single motherhood scared me, but being a first-time mom and going it alone (only alone in the sense that Averey and I lived together in an apartment) was a pleasant surprise... and it helped she was an incredibly placid baby!

I know friends, family and co-workers were concerned for me. Some expected that I would leave Harrisburg and return home with my parents. Thankfully, my parents fully supported me staying in Harrisburg. I was 26, had a decent paying job, health insurance, and a nice apartment in a quiet area. There was no reason for me to leave and start over back home. I already had to restart my life as a single woman, and a new mother to boot; why change my location if that's the one steady port in the storm swirling around me?

And Averey. Oh sweet Averey. She had captured my heart, and I knew she was dependent on me for EVERYTHING. I ultimately had to trust that God would take care of us. Not only did we survive, we thrived. We were loved, and many people, known and unknown, prayed for us. In the atypical matters of my maternity leave (i.e. filing for child support, hiring an attorney), Averey's presence made it all worth the hassles. I reconciled I'd be dealing with an unfavorable situation for the next 18 years, when suddenly, he decided it wasn't worth it. I was never so relieved.

Seven years later, I have a bright, bubbly, quizzical girly girl who has a flair for drama (much like her mother); a sweet girl who is a doting big sister (even though Kelsey gets the brunt of her frustrations); a silly lass who giggles when she burps on command and ekes out farts (that's my girl!). I never imagined our life would turn out this way: two younger sisters for her and a daddy who, while they don't share DNA, loves her beyond comprehension (and can handle her when she spazzes out like, well... me), and for those who don't know our story would never know the difference.

I have been incredibly blessed over these past seven years, and I eagerly await to see the young lady she'll become in the next seven years. (Although it doesn't have to go as fast, does it?)