Jan. 09, 2004 - 20:30 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Sittin' At Saturn

Normal maintenance time for the buggy, but seeing that Heather decided to have the engine flushed also I have no idea how long we will be here. Shop looked pretty busy when we pulled in.

So rather than sit here slack jawed in front of their TV, now would be a good time to write an entry in my notebook. One thing though, my Muse didn't come along I guess. (my Muse The Hermit). Oh, well.......

When I was little I couldn't understand "birthdays." Maybe it was about my fourth birthday -- the time I became aware anyhow, that Mom told me my birthday was coming up. I said something like, "What's a birthday Mom ?" She replied, "That day of this month xxxx years ago you were born." Curiosity plus, "What's born Mama ?" Softly she said, "That's the day you came into the world, hon." With my brow wrinkled in confusion, "Where was I before ?" Mom and Dad, were fugitives from the bible thumping, shouting, screaming "hell fire and damnation" preachers so I guess Mom didn't think to tell me that babies came from Heaven. Probably a good thing because little boy scuttlebutt told me a whole different story later.

It was beyond my understanding that I was once a little baby, heck to my mind I was always as I was then. It took time, a bit of living and seeing babies come from total helplessness to being communicative beings before I realized I too had to have been around before I became aware.

That was back before pregnancy became a subject for conversation in the general public eye and even longer before anyone felt that pregnancy and birth was a fitting subject for kids to handle. I remember later talking to a kid who had come to our neighborhood from a farm, him trying to tell me the facts of life and I just didn't believe him. The way he told it and saying that was the way it was for humans too made me think it was not a subject to ask my folks about.

When I was very young I never saw a pregnant woman -- maybe a few "fat" ladies, words I had learned which described young women who were protruding in front. Made sense to me thinking about some of the pot bellied men I had seen.

My older cousin had her baby out of our state and when she came to visit her baby was kept as pristine as a Mother can make her little baby. Periodically she would disappear into a bedroom and close the door behind her. I asked Mom how come she did that and was told that it was time for her to nurse the baby, heck I didn't have any idea what that was until later when Mom told me that human babies had to have milk just like our dog Peggy gave milk to her pups, but that folks felt that nursing should be done in privacy.

Later in life I remember thinking that a kid who had brothers and sisters was way ahead in all things than an only kid. Later yet when I put it together that farm kids knew what they were talking about too and they were way ahead of all of us.

Our oldest child, a boy, was four years old when his sister was born, five years old when her sister was born and seven years old when his brother was born. I remember him feeling the baby move in his Mom's tummy and also remember Heather steering his curiosity to what we were going to do when they new baby was born. Somehow he never got to ask the big question.

What a change the years had wrought when our youngest, a lady, had her second baby. The first one was a boy and was told that a baby was growing in his Mom's tummy and got to feel the baby moving there. He was thrilled to help make preparations as best he could for the new arrival, beforehand.

He was in the waiting room with the rest of us when his baby sister was born, after she was cleaned up a bit his Dad took him in to see the new baby weighed and all the formalities attendant for a new baby. His Dad told him that this baby girl was the one who had been riding in his Mama's tummy for so long just like he had a few years before she came along. I think they handled things quite well really.

Earlier Heather had gone to see when the car would be done, it was edging on super rush hour. She told me they had to reprogram the on-board computer and it was taking more time than they figured. The man just came in and told us the car was ready. It is remarkable what a guy can do in a notebook while Sittin' At Saturn . . . . . . . .

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