Letters to George Fossen // Volume 9

Dearest George,

In twenty minutes time you will be exactly 12 months old. I'm writing you tonight while reminiscing about today and yesterday and all of the weeks and months that have made up this one wild, glorious, life-changing year.

It feels like just yesterday I was mailing out your birth announcements and now here we are back at the beginning again...June 2...one whole year later! WHERE has the time gone?!

I've been reminiscing this week about last year...feeling SO pregnant...waiting to go into labor...finally going into labor...giving birth to you!!!!...taking you home...and those first few days of newness, joy, wonder, and emotion.

I didn't want you out of my sight for even one minute. I remember that first night/morning we brought you home and I just couldn't sleep. I had to watch you. Look at you. Wonder at you. Check your breathing. Stare at all your precious, perfect features. I was in awe.

I remember watching my parents hold you and seeing them become grandparents in an instant. I was so overcome with emotion at their joy and love for you.

I remember taking you to church on the very first Sunday of your life. Your Dad and I sat in the back of the auditorium at Bishop O'Connell High School and neither one of us could hold it together for most of the service. We were so incredibly grateful for the gift of YOU!

I look back at this last year and simply feel thankful. I feel thankful for God's provision to us. He provided amazing coworkers that helped send me off into this new job with such confidence. He provided a next door neighbor who was a midwife. He provided a church community that brought us meals, prayed for us, and encouraged us. He provided friends like the Skolnitskys who were embarking on all of the same things we were on this parenting journey. He provided my Mom! He provided neighbors to watch Admiral Byrd when we traveled, the Smith gals to babysit at a moment's notice, and girlfriends who made things so easy for me. During those sleepless nights that we thought would never end, God provided miraculous pockets of rest. We had a pretty serious health scare with you at six weeks and God provided just the right doctors to care for you. He provided my sister and your grandpa who came to sit with us in the hospital. He provided healing. He provided safety for us in all of the many travels we made this last year to see family.

There has not been one day of your life, dear George, when I have not needed the grace of God. It carries. It upholds. It strengthens. It heals.

You have been the greatest joy of our lives this year, darling boy! I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone.

We went to the grocery store yesterday afternoon and an elderly man stopped to wave at you. You waved back so enthusiastically and he smiled as he told me, "Enjoy this time. It goes so fast. My son is 54 and I still can't believe he's grown." I had such a lump in my throat that I couldn't even reply, but I nodded, yes! yes! I am trying to enjoy these days! Every day. Even the hard ones. These are precious days.

George, your Dad and I love you more than we could ever say. We thank God for you. Happy, happy birthday to you, our beloved son!