Thanks

It had been along time, too long.
Years.
That time, and changes in my own
life's path, had put space between
what was once a close friendship.
Close enough that she put her hand
in mine, never pulling it out of my
crushing grip, for the 33 hours of
labor it took for my son to be born.
Nine of those hours while I was in
the hell of non-stop jack hammer like
contractions that came "hand in
hand" with having your child's birth
finally induced.
It wasn't pretty, not at all.
Not like in the movies.
And she stood by me as I struggled
to spit out my boy who seemed to
like it just fine enough where he
was.
She was the one who loved kids. I
was the one who had doubted my
ability to have them, much less be
a decent mother.
Life is weird.
I have a son, she is childless.
We got together for an early dinner
last Saturday.
The last time she'd seen my son was
when he was 2 or 3.
She'd come by the farm with a stray
kitten, that we kept, who is now a
15 year old cat called "Edward".
My son didn't recall her at all.
So we sat across from each other,
after ordering our meals, and caught
up on old news and new.
My son shared what a 17 yr old will
of his world, she listened as I looked
on.
We had a wonderful time and she and
I laughed about stuff that only old
farm girl friends can, and it felt
really good.
We parted with hugs and promises to
not let the years slip by again.
Early the next morning there was an
email from her in my mail box thanking
me for dinner and telling me never
to doubt that I'm a good mother because
my son is "amazing", and my face lights
up when I watch him talk or talk about
him.
And, it's obvious he and I are close.
Your right Kathy, I love him.
Thanks for helping me bring him safely
into this world..
I couldn't have done it without you.