Because that is the deal

The sleepless nights come with the new baby. It’s part of this particular terrain.

The sleepless nights are tough, I know. I can’t wait to be done with these, you think. It will be better when I have more rest. It will be better when the baby grows out of this stage. When he is sleeping through the night I will enjoy this.

But when one thing passes, so to do the others. Along with the sleepless nights go the coos and the baby smell and the newness of it all. Out go the first giggles and out goes your little one, beyond your grasp and into a world that is bigger than you both.

The new baby brings with him these sleepless nights. And when one thing passes, so to do the others. And you live through it all because that is the deal.

You’d make it again, when it comes right down to it.

The sickness comes with the aging parent. It’s part of this particular terrain.

The sickness is tough, I know. I just want this sickness to stop, you think. We can’t take any more of this sickness. It’s too much, it’s too hard, it just has to stop. Without the sickness we could laugh again. We could breathe.

But when one thing passes, so to do the others. Out go your phone calls home and your beloved traditions. Out go the best hugs you know. Out goes your mother, beyond your grasp and into a great beyond that is bigger than you both.

The aging parent brings with her the illness. The baby, the sleepless nights.

And you live through it all because that is the deal.

You’d make it again, when it comes right down to it.

In loving memory of Grandma Dorothy MacDonald, who knew how to live.