Cause for Reflection: 16 Years Today

I cast my mind back to a time sixteen years back. I was sleeping alone in a 4-bed ward of a North West regional hospital -- not another soul about. In fact, I was granted stay in a disused wing of this hospital as emergency accommodation due to a sudden change of circumstances. It was an eerie experience I can tell you.

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In a little over 19-hours from now I was going to be a father of a baby daughter. Having been flown up two weeks premature, my then wife was having the baby today; by induction, then C-section if that failed. It had been a troubled pregnancy, with much trial and tribulation throughout considering aback now. I still remember, craddling her and the little one-eyed peek I got as she discovered me at around 9.20 PM on that Friday night. My delighted awe was beyond comprehension.

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As I lay there in this huge, open eerily quiet hospital room with moonlight breaking its way through the poorly shaded windows, I couldn't help ponder what lay before me. At this point I had no idea really what was about to take place, and how my emotions would take me on a slippery slope and re-birth with the birth of my first child.

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It's incredible looking back. It all started this day those sixteen years ago. It doesn't seem that long back, though in some ways it seems an eternity behind me. So much has changed; and not all for the good. I wonder, and really have no doubt, that some things that occurred around five years ago actually were a curse and not a blessing, and what impact these events had on then (and still) young lives. As the passage of these sixteen years have charted, much change has occurred, and there we remain -- today. We have what we have, nothing more, certainly nothing less. With all this I praise God.

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Today we have, without promise of tomorrow, and indeed, sixteen more years of tomorrows. Happy birthday Amy. I hope that in the midst of life's challenges you always choose to take the time to reflect, remember, and for all that's happened, be at peace with yourself, everyone else, and ultimately, creation and God.

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Amy -- Carpe Diem.