June 21, 1970 I was 19 years old and 6 months pregnant with the child that would be my second son. It was a hot summer, so hot that I learned to do my housework in the cool of morning and spend the afternoons watching my oldest son, who turned a year old in April that year, playing in our yard. And I read, all the works of Shakespeare, and seven novels by Charles Dickens. I was scandalized by Lady Chatterley and Madame Bovary and yearned for a cabin by Walden Pond. I read and read.I made my first jams and jellies that summer too, putting them up in tiny baby food jars sealed with paraffin. I marveled at the shining rows of colorful preserves in my cabinets.I also registered for night school. I'd quit school to marry and become a mother but I desperately wanted to finish high school. Classes started September 25th and my baby was due on the 27th. I doubted it would be possible to attend but I registered nevertheless. I had a boy's name picked out for my baby, one I'd had since I was 14. Jonathan Scott. I loved the way the syllables rolled off my tongue. What if the baby was a girl? I struggled to find a name for a little girl. Nothing sounded right.
September 4th was the Friday before Labor Day. It was another hot day and that morning I wondered how much more I could take. As it turned out, labor started that evening and in four hours my Jonathan came into the world.
He would have been 42 today, at 9:31 pm. I miss him.
Me, Jon, and his granddaughter Cadyn.
Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.
Oh. Susanna, how could you not. Part of you went with Jon. Jonathan Scott. And part of Jon is here, yet, with you. You'll meet up in the bye and bye. And little Cadyn is now walking, talking, climbing and biking? And will have you to tell her about her Grampa Jon. thanks for sharing . . .
ReplyDeleteSue, I know you do miss him. I feel for you and yours.
ReplyDeleteJai
What a great memory. Always thinking of you. Always keep those memories fresh in our brains and never let them go.
ReplyDeleteKaren Kelly
I was seventeen at the time and reading many of the same books, Sue. Thinking of you all.
ReplyDeleteSome things never go away. Time, they say, heals all, but it isn't quite so. I know that all who are gone are still with us, but those left on this side for awhile still miss them as if they were gone. Someday, we'll step across too, and wonder why we were so sad. MUCH love to you!
ReplyDeleteThinking of you today.
ReplyDelete