Double Blessings

On a Saturday morning in 1995 I decided to tell a lie.  I decided that I had carried these two little boys around long enough and that it was time for them to get the hell out of my body.  #2 son had been trying to escape since 28 weeks and so I spent 8 weeks in bed holding in him and his brother.  They let me out of bed at 36 weeks assuming I would go into labor...two weeks later the little suckers were holding tight.

Our hospital was on the other side of the Washington, DC Beltway.  My greatest fear was being trapped in rush hour traffic when these guys decided to make their world premier.  If you've ever been to DC - you know that this is not an exaggeration...it really was a possibility.

So I woke up that Saturday morning on Memorial Day weekend and said, "Let's go honey.  Time to have some babies."

"Are you in labor," he asked.

"Um...no," I replied.

"Then why are we going to the hospital?"

"Because I'm over this.  It's a holiday weekend which means there is no traffic and we'll get there quickly.  THEY don't know I'm not having contractions and I can lie like nobody's business."

Miraculously, by the time we got to the hospital and they got me hooked up to the monitors I had no contractions!  But since I was 38 weeks with twins, they decided to keep me and break my water.

A couple hours later at 9:21 and 9:42 (both were vaginal deliveries), I was the mother of two beautiful baby boys with 9 apgars and weighing in at 6 lbs 4 ozs each. Two of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

Those little scrawny ass baby boys are 17 years old today.  They are 5' 11" inches tall.  They are broad chested and handsome like their dad.  They are kind and loving and always reaching out to help without a thought about themselves.  They are highly intelligent.  They are compassionate.  They are talented. They carry a deep faith within their hearts.  They have never caused me a moment of real disappointment or anguish.

They have brought nothing but unbounded joy into my life.  They've taught me that my heart can expand exponentially with love - that it's not limited.  And, like all of my children, they've taught me what unconditional love really is.

They are identical but are as different as night and day.  One is very much like his father and one is very much like me.  They lead individual lives but are as close as you'd imagine identical twins to be.  Their bond is a little spooky sometimes.

Like when we're driving in a quiet car and they both start singing the same song...at the same time...in exactly the same place in the song...yeah...goosebumps.

When I used to venture out with them people would always look at us and say, "Uh-oh...double trouble!"  To which I always replied, "Maybe, but I get twice as many kisses and twice as many hugs and a double dose of love."  (Even when one was screaming for something, the other was crying and their older brother was thinking, "Why did we bring them?"  And then #2 son would take off in one direction while #1 son, finally fed up, socked #3 son and sent him to the ground on his butt.)  Good times.

So on the occasion of their 17th birthday I'd like to offer this birthday wish:

I wish you a life filled with love and light and beauty because that is what you have brought into my life. 

You are my miracles.