Veteran's Day & my Grandma

When I was home last September (2007) after having just given birth, my Grandma told me the story of giving birth to her first baby, my mom, three days before D-Day while my Grandpa, who was in the military, was deployed overseas.

My Grandma was alone in the hospital. Estranged from her family and my Grandpa away, she went into the hospital to give birth to my mom by herself. The hospital was incredibly short-staffed because many doctors and nurses had been sent overseas to help tend to the men fighting in the Allied Forces. My Grandma was left alone in a hospital room with a nurse or two who'd check in periodically to see how she was. As my mom crowned, the nurses yelled at my Grandma to "keep the baby in" because the one doctor on staff "was in the middle of surgery and wouldn't be able to deliver the baby now!" So, my poor grandma was asked to do the impossible: hold back that baby that's coming out of you-know-where. Can you imagine?

The doctor arrived, my mom was born, and all was okay (believe it or not), but when I try to envision myself in a similar circumstance I get all twisty and uncomfortable inside. I know that in 1944 a husband would not have been in the delivery room and that natural birth, etc, had yet to have its renaissance, but even after my mom was born, there was my Grandma, alone in the U.S. with her brand new baby.

While the veterans of this country deserve to be celebrated on this day, it's essential to remember that these men and women don't exist as islands in this world. They're connected to families back home, and those families are also "serving" their country in myriad, bizarre ways that we can't even fathom. So today I'm thinking of you, Grandma, and the sacrifices you made for our country by being married to a man who served in the military for a large part of your marriage.

No wonder you're such a tough one!