Say Wha? A Weeping Willow?

Step back with me in time.....

September 2003-my husband and I found ourselves sitting in a roomful of strangers-24+1 instructor, to be exact and 12 of them were 7 1/2 months pregnant, like myself.  Awkward silence deafened our ears, as we sat in anticipation for 8 weeks of  what we soon came to dread as our "Lamaze Class."  Dread may be too strong impolite I dunno-too much of a word-but for me and my overgrowing midsection-the LAST place I wanted to find myself every.Monday.evening, was on the floor with a pillow, my husband and an overly friendly lady* with her Colombian boyfriend*, to our left, who, I must add, laughed at EVERY.awkward.comment or sound that came from my husband's mouth. 

I don't remember MUCH about the important stuff of those 8 weeks, because thanks to my husband's very LARGE genes, I ended up having 2 c-sections with both of our son's birth and didn't have to recall much of it when "Push-Came-2-Shove" but other than "Obnoxious Baptist Couple" who laughed at themselves the whole.darn.8.weeks and three other couples we "honed in on" (the overly friendly lady and her Colombian boyfriend, for one)--I pretty much blocked out those 8.long.weeks.  BUT, but, BUT--the ONE.thing.I.DO.remember-was this:

Find your FOCUS.  Determine NOW what your focus will be, when you're in the midst of the pain of childbirth.  And whatever.u.do-do NOT lose your focus.  Our instructor called it our "HaPpY PlAcE."  It did not take me long, sitting in the most uncomfortable position, between my husband's legs with a pillow wedged between our bodies-to "find my HaPpY PlAcE." 

Now, step back me, FURTHER in time.....to that HaPpY PlAcE:

I was 5.  6.  7.  8.  9.  10.  11.  Yes, all those ages.  And maybe even younger.  Yeah, even younger.  And I was flying HIGH-up-up-UP-then falling back down-down-DOWN but Up-up-UP in the backwards motion.  Back-and-forth. Up and back.  I was holding tight, as if my little life depended on it, seated on a narrow piece of wood.  But, it was ALL good.  I was in my HaPpY PlAcE.  I was sitting on a swing, hanging from the strong mature limbs of Grandma and Grandpa Ziegler's Weeping Willow Tree.  What a GORGEOUS tree it was.  It's branches acted as a hiding place, an oasis, to my siblings and myself, whenever we'd find our way to our favorite neighbor's farm and yard.  I would often reach up as HIGH as my little arms could reach, grabbing hold of one of the "fuzzy" branches and then running my hand down the branch, in it's weeping motion, and feel the softness of it's leave that also was rough and firm, if you can use those very contrasting descriptions for the same object.  Swinging back and forth, back and forth WAS my HaPpY PlAcE.  THAT, was my focal point.  And I'm proud to say-that on both occasions of my son's birth-I DID find myself using that ONE.thing. from Lamaze, to help me relax and keep my focus as I sat on the edge of the OR table, sans my husband, naked and shivering (brrrrrrr....less than 50 degrees in OR's--did you know that), trying to remain STILL and CALM as the anesthesiologist maneuvered his way INTO my spinal column with the very necessary epidural required for the very invasive surgeries.  I went to my HaPpY PlAcE.  Underneath the Weeping Willow Tree.  Where there were no worries.  Because, who has worries when she's only 5?

to be continued......

*The very friendly lady and her Colombian boyfriend became some of our dearest friends after we gave birth to sons 13 days apart and were "reunited" 3 months later at our "Lamaze Reunion."  Since, our families have celebrated their marriage, the birth of more babies (not them) and attend the same church as well as kids attend the same school! ;o)  And, that very friendly lady, still LAUGHS at EVERY.awkward.comment or sound that comes from my husband's mouth.  ;o)  And I LOVE her for it! ;o)