Breaking the News

I knew something was strange the day after Mother’s Day. Early that morning, I had fixed my coffee and sat down in my office to check my email. The first message that I opened was from my daughter. There was no subject in the subject line. That should have been the first indicator that something was up.

I clicked open the email and read what my daughter had written. She said that she and my son-in-law, Bram, were going to have to change their vacation plans and it was important that “we discuss it with you and Daddy.” “Our phone isn’t working,” she continued, “so we were hoping you guys could Skype with us around 10:30.” I immediately replied that that would be fine, I would make sure we were both on Skype at that time.

I hit send, and that’s when I began to realize that something was up. “Why would they have to talk to both of us about their vacation plans?” I thought to myself. It didn’t really matter what they wanted to do for their vacation, they certainly didn’t need to consult us. And since when would my daughter want input from me on something like her plans. So, I picked up the phone and dialed her number in The Netherlands. It must have rung fifteen times. “That’s odd,” I thought, “We just spoke yesterday and the phone was working fine.”

About an hour later, I tried calling again. Just like before, the phone rang repeatedly with no answer. I thought about sending her another email, but I reasoned that we would discuss the matter in just a few hours, so I could wait.

But in truth, I couldn’t wait. Something was going on, and in my gut, I knew it. What vacation plans did they have that might possibly affect me and my husband? They were due to come home in September, but there weren’t any plans that we had that couldn’t easily be changed. She could have simply said what she needed to in an email or when we spoke on Mother’s Day.

My husband and I were in the truck heading back to the house after some errands when it hit me. “She’s pregnant,” I said. “That has to be it.” Tim thought that I had completely lost my mind. “How do you get that she’s pregnant from vacation plans?” he asked. But deep in my heart, I knew that I was right.

By the time we got into the house and turned on the computer, I had several emails and Facebook messages from my daughter. We were late. It was 10:40pm her time. We signed on to Skype and were greeted with various pleasantries. “OK,” I finally said. “Tell me about these vacation plans.”

“We can’t come home for Christmas this year,” my beautiful daughter was saying. “The baby is due on the 20th.” And with that my dream for the past three years was fulfilled. I’ve been practicing and preparing to be a grandmother. Now it was really going to happen. What a gift!