Huckleberries Online

A Baby Changes Everything

Posted by Cindy

Dec. 24, 2009 12:30 p.m. • 12 comments

In the midst of unearthing Christmas decorations, I surveyed the downstairs family room. Actually, “wreck” room is a more apt description. Green and red bins burgeoning with tinsel and ornaments perched precariously on tabletops. Blue bins overflowing with winter garb towered with ominous instability in opposite corners. And stacks of paper on the floor revealed last year’s resolution to stay current with filing has been a dismal failure.

Overwhelmed, I looked for a place to sit. And then I saw it – my rocking chair. Banished to the basement when my youngest grew too big to cuddle comfortably with me in its confines.

I removed the mountain of snow pants and ski gloves that had buried it and sat down and began to rock. As I swayed, I remembered the first time I saw this chair, on a Christmas morning 20 years ago. Cindy Hval, SR. More here.

Has a baby changed your life?

12 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

keithincda on December 24 at 12:42 p.m.
oh yes…..my Grandkids are softening me up now. Last week my 3+ year old Granddaughter and my almost 2 Grandson rotated between the moving van I was driving and their parents car as we moved them up from LA to Seattle. My heart was filled with so many emotions…love mostly, a lot of pride and also concern for them in this crazy world they live in.
And then on fuel stops I would hold/acquaint myself with the newest 2+ month old Grandson who I saw for the 1st time last Thursday (except for video chats).
I love love love them all…and Seattle is much closer than LA has been since the 1st was born so I will get lost more time with them, here and there.
spokelooneh on December 24 at 1:21 p.m.
Transformational.
Me on December 24 at 1:28 p.m.
Oh boy yes. I had no pregnancy, no planning. I had the heartbreak of losing my Sister - and then became a mother to her son a mere 6 weeks old at the time. To say he changed my life doesn’t even come close.
marmitetoasty on December 24 at 2:30 p.m.
No one warned me they was yours for keeps :) forever in heart and soul and pride and dispair and sickness and laughter and that the feeling of love never goes away even when they have their sh*thead moments :)

Ya see, I never had that…. love that is from a parent, so I had no clue that this feeling that I feel so deep inside that sometimes it almost burns, was what love of a child was all about……

x
Kage_Mann on December 24 at 3:08 p.m.
“Has a baby changed your life”?

Yea, I went from being no.1 in my significant others eyes, to the No.2 spot. ;-(
hmoffsuite on December 24 at 3:12 p.m.
Hey Kage. We’ve all been worndering where you have been and hoping everything is ok with you. Care to fill us in? Welcome back.
Bent on December 24 at 3:18 p.m.
Hey Kage where have been???
Me on December 24 at 4:30 p.m.
You made me cry Marmite - And you captured it - the part about it almost burning - I did have the love of my parents, I know that - but now I really know what it was…..
chatterbox on December 24 at 7:03 p.m.
Yes, he has changed my life. I always thought (for years) that I was too self-centered to have a child. (And probably, truthfully, I was.) However, once I heard the heart beat during an ultrasound, I was transformed.

And Cindy… your article brought tears to my eyes.

Thank you.
JeanieSpokane on December 24 at 11:58 p.m.
I loved your article, Cindy. My first born was born on his due date - December 10. It has always brought special meaning to me at Christmas time. My next door neighbor’s baby was born on Christmas day two weeks later.
BethB on December 25 at 9:36 a.m.
I read this article on the plane yesterday. Made me cry - in a good way. Very touching. Thanks, Cindy, for writing it.
Stickman on December 25 at 2:46 p.m.
Thanks Cindy, very nice indeed.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.