ONCE Upon A Time (Part 3)

So, where were we???  :-)

My parents had shown up at church and we decided to go out to lunch with them at Olive Garden.  They went ahead on over to the restaurant and got us a table while we finished up some stuff at church.  On the drive over, I felt like throwing up.  It's an exciting time, but for me, telling my parents that we were pregnant just made me feel sick to my stomach.  I knew they would be excited, but again, we had told them that it would be at least 5 years before we started having kids.

We got there, found their table, and sat down.  I'm sitting there looking at the menu, feeling like puking, and I can't even begin to try to focus on deciding what I wanted to order.  I finally told them that I had something to tell them and I needed to get it out because I felt like I was going to be sick if I didn't.  I told them and they didn't know what to say.  My sister's reaction was full of excitement over the fact that she was going to be an aunt.  (She was 11 at the time, I think.)  My brother likes to describe my dad's reaction.  He said it was as if my dad had swallowed an entire Olive Garden breadstick whole.  After the initial shock, they started to warm up to the idea, asking us questions and finding out more information.  I will just never forget that moment of complete and utter shock on my mom and dad's faces.  It makes me smile and laugh to think about it today and we still talk about it sometimes when we're all together.  There is always laughter involved when discussing that day.

Soon after telling my parents, we told Dave's parents and Grandma when they were at our house.  They were shocked, but very excited and I remember that Beth and Joe were there, but in the other room playing with Roscoe, our pup.  Debbie (Dave's mom) asked Uncle Joe and Aunt Beth to come into the room and they did, not knowing that her words had a meaning behind them.  They were super excited for us.

I also remember telling my Grandma and Grandpa at Christmas that year.  My mom had written a sweet card that contained a little poem in it, basically saying that a baby would be joining our family before the next Christmas.  I remember watching my Grandma's face as she's reading it, trying to figure out what it meant and when she did, she showed my Grandaddy.  Everyone was so excited for us.

That Christmas, when we celebrated with my dad's side of the family, it was a sad year.  My cousin, Ryan, had been killed in an automobile accident that April.  It was our first Christmas without him and we even had the get together at my house to make things easier.  We had been sitting around talking about Ryan and my aunt had a song for us all to listen to.  After the song, it seemed like a perfect time to let everyone know that we were expecting.  I even called my cousin Beth, who wasn't able to be with us that year, to tell her the news.  Good times.

These are all memories that I will never forget.  It was such a time of excitement and joy.  Yes, we were overwhelmed, especially since we had been told that it could take us six months to get pregnant and it had taken one month, but still, the thoughts of starting our own family were so exciting.    Little did we know that in just a few short weeks, we would be sharing some sad news that will forever.

Up next...our insurance drama.  Gotta love insurance companies, right???