Tomorrow, March 11 is the birthday of my brother John. Born in 1966, John is just a couple months shy of being 11 years my junior.
The day he was born, Dad came upstairs at 5:00 am, saying, “Get up. Mom needs to go to the hospital.”
We had been preparing for this day for many months. I was to go to my best friend Kathy’s house to stay with her family until Mom and the baby came home.
That March 11th, I put on my school clothes with clumsy fingers, and followed Mom and Dad to the car. Nothing seemed much different, except we didn’t go places often at such an early hour.
Kathy met us at the door, along with her mother and dad. Everyone was excited! Kathy and I went to her room, where we talked about how exciting it all was, this business of bringing babies into our families!
Milking was going at full tilt and we were waiting for the school bus when the telephone rang. It was my dad calling to tell me that I was a big sister to a little brother. We had already agreed upon his name, but I still checked in, to be sure everything was on track. Dad said that he had been born at 7:17 and weighted 8 pounds. I asked if Mom was okay, and Dad said she was fine. We said goodbye, and Kathy and I saw the bus pull up in the driveway. Her little brother Rick climbed onto the bus. He said, “Carol has an announcement.”
I did? Why, Yes! I sure did!
“We have a new baby. His name is John William.”
And so began a special day as I shared the news that we had a welcome addition to our little family.
Happy 57th Birthday, John! Celebrate all month long!
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