“I am born”

Today is my birthday. I am 71.

I was born January 31, 1949, at Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a Monday morning.

Those are facts, the rest is the story that has been repeated for many years on many birthdays. It will not be retold this year. My parents are unable to tell the story.

It is my wish to record what I have been told by my Mother.

I was a wanted, planned child. My Daddy had returned from the Pacific after World War II, to a much loved eighteen month old son. My brother was born while my Dad was in the Army, deployed to fight the Japanese.

According to my Mother, they both wanted another child, even my brother was excited and dubbed me “the new kid” before I was born.

My Mother, three of her sisters and one sister in law all had babies between July 4, 1948 and January 31, 1949. In the Parish family, we were known as the Famous Five and grew up more like siblings than cousins. I am the fifth born of the Famous Five and the only girl.

Mama has said that during her pregnancy with me she felt beautiful and with much anticipation waited for me to be born. All of my cousins were born and she was the last to deliver.

She awoke early in the morning on January 31 and knew it was time to go to the hospital. She and Daddy awoke to an unusual ice storm. The plan was to take my brother, then four years old, to stay with my Grandmother. So Daddy left in the ice storm to take my brother to Grandma’s house leaving Mama to wait for him at their apartment. My brother was delivered safely to Grandma’s house to await the arrival of the “new kid”.

Daddy returned to take Mama to the hospital, carefully navigating the icy streets. I was born fairly quickly after arrival. At some point the hospital lost power because of the ice storm and Mama has told me that the hospital had a generator and I was born on “auxiliary” power. (Hmmm…auxiliary power? Could that be the cause of some of my quirkiness?)

Apparently, I was a difficult birth as I was not “folded” in a fetal position and there were some problems with my legs and hip joints. I have never quite understood the exact problem but I know that I slept with sand bags holding my legs in place for some time.

My Mother has told me she was quite upset and concerned about my legs, but her sister, my Aunt Juhn, came to the hospital, talked with the doctors and reassured Mama that I would be just fine. I have often wondered if my “unique” gait and crazy legs are a result of my unusual birth, but it was the forties, my legs looked normal so it wasn’t considered a problem.

It was Daddy’s first experience with a newborn and I have pictures of him holding me and it is obvious that I was (and still am) Daddy’s girl.

It is reassuring to know that I was loved and anticipated before I was born. My brother and I are still close and thru the years he has reminded me that I was the “new kid”.

If Mama or Daddy realize that it is my birthday, I hope they will smile and remember the good times and all of the birthdays we have celebrated.

Thank you for being my parents and wanting me and loving me.

Peace and Love

Linda