Open Forum - question from Mel

Mel from Melanie in Orygun asked me to

Name the five best days of your life

Pretty good question really. As a mommy, I am thinking that I may be obligated to name the births of my children as four of the five, but frankly, even though I love my children (for the most part anyway), I really could not name the days of THEIR births as among the BEST days of MY life. Let me explain that a bit, really.

When my oldest was born, I was induced, two days running. I ended up giving into the epidural temptation (I am not knocking them, but they are NOT for me), thus having my labour arrested, ending up with a c-section, an allergic reaction to the tape they put on my back, and a case of post-partum depression. It was not exactly a red letter day for me. With my second, I was put in the hospital with high blood pressure, induced, ended up with the epidural again, arrested labour again, argued and cried about not wanting another c-section, delivered by forceps and 4th degree tear, and a baby that was taken away to the NICU for about 12 hours. Again, not lovely. My daughter was born in the early hours of Christmas Eve. My husband was actually annoyed because he was supposed to fly to work that morning and I ruined his plans. Her delivery went well, but he did leave Christmas morning, I was left in the hospital, no visitors on Christmas Day, then, went home to two little boys and husband at work. He finally did come home on New Years Eve, then proceeded to pack up and move out on New Year's Day. My fourth....I was loaded in the back of an ambulance and taken to the big hospital after about 20 hours of non-progressive labour, only to find that he was laying sideways and I was in line for another c-section. YAY!!! Then he ended up with a hole in his lung and we spent 11 days in the NICU and 6 weeks on home oxygen. Childbirth, on a whole, was never the best time for me. Luckily, my pregnancies always were fairly easy.

Now, to name the five best days of my life. This has taken some real thought. I would have to say collectively, the days that my children first said, "I love you, mom" Definitely a big day each time it happened. Certain accomplishments that they have achieved have also been big days for me, but I really cannot choose any one. I think for myself, the day I graduated from Nursing School and became an RN. It was something I had wanted since I was very young. It was also something that my father wanted. He always felt that nursing was a noble profession and he was very proud of me when I started nursing school. He never really knew I graduated, since by that time he had Alzheimer's. I like to believe that he does know now, since he has passed away. The second best day of my life was when I signed the papers to purchase my home....I did it myself. It is mine. That was a proud accomplishment for me. Also the day I bought my new car, by myself. Again, an accomplishment that I had never done on my own. All big deals for me, all showing myself and everyone around me that I was capable, independent and confident.

Now, hands down, the very best day of my life was January 5th, 2000. This was the day that I met NewMan for the very first time face to face. We had known each other online for a few years, and in the months preceding this meeting, we had been doing the online dating thing, and talking on the phone daily, during which time, we had already fallen in love. You may wonder how a person can fall in love with another without ever having seen them, touched them, looked in their eyes. Well, I can attest to the fact that you can. All those months, we had nothing more than conversation to fill our time. We talked of everything from the very important life issues, to the silly everyday things that people talk about. When we had a problem, we had no choice but to work it through, in conversation, as there was no other way. We have now developed a level of communication that exceeds anything I have never experienced before. It is amazing. In adjunct to this day, the day that we found each other again and saw each other again, after six years apart, were equally as amazing. Realizing that the love we had for one another had actually grown in our time apart. We knew that what we shared was very special indeed. And in looking forward, I know that the very best day of my life is yet to come....the day NewMan and I finally marry and embark on the journey that will be the rest of our lives.

Melanie, now in turn you must answer something for me in your blog. Talk about the day you met the love of your life. What do you remember about that day? What things had to fall into place to make it happen??

Also, anyone reading this, keep on posting me questions on my Open Forum post.