Second Child

Mrs. Joy, an amazing woman who taught Madeleine's 3 year old Sunday School when we were at Lovers Lane UMC, and just happened to live two streets away from us, is a huge part of our lives. She lives two doors down from Madeleine's piano teacher, so every Wednesday Everett and I go to Mrs. Joy's while Madeleine is learning piano. Mrs. Joy plays football with Everett, chases him around the yard, gives him a cookie and milk, and always has a color sheet for him to color. She is an incredible woman and I am so thankful for her influence in my life and in the lives of my children. Mrs. Joy also invited me to be a part of her Book Club that she began 25 years ago, the EZ Reader's Book Club. I so enjoy these ladies, the discussion that we have of the books, and the wisdom that they share.

Like me, Mrs. Joy has two children, first a girl and then a boy.

Mrs. Joy shared with me this poem and I think it is such a treasure:

Second Child by Toby Devens Schwartz from the book "Mercy Lord, My Husband's in the Kitchen and Other Equal Opportunity Conversations with God."

Dear son, dear afterthought
memento of one tiny flight of love
for whom I sacrificed my trip to Nassau, my job promotion, the last of my waistline
Happy is the woman who hugs her child in the night and says
It was worth it.

Dear son, dear second-born
reluctant toothless dragon of my dreams
who dug in for a ten-month gestation (you still there? phone calls begin)
and a nineteen-hour labor (you still here? the obstetrician grins)
Happy is the woman who rocks her child in her arms and says
It was worth it.

Dear son, dear what will be
sweet triumph of hope over fatigue
who looks a little like his father and a little like his mother and a lot like a miracle.
Happy is the woman who holds her child in the light and says,
It was worth it.

It was worth it, Lord,
Thank you.