Today after work I let the dog out, as usual. I stood in the fading sun at the sliding glass door and watched him run around. I think, someday, he would have loved running around with Joanna.
When he ran around the corner out of sight, I moved over and looked at the calendar. I picked up my Sharpie pen and started adding. “Bill to Rochester” for a week. “Carol to SoCal” for a week. “Mom and Dad Overnight” one weekend in April. “Emily’s Bridal Shower,” “Amber in Town”.
As I added these things to the calendar I realized that the big trips I was writing down would not be happening if Joanna had been born [alive] when she was due, April 7. Bill couldn’t have left for Rochester a week after her birth. I would not be going to California for work, since I wouldn’t even be working.
The smaller visits would still have happened. My parents would still have come visit, and even Amber would still be coming! But they would have been coming to meet and visit with Joanna. I am happy they are still coming to see me, I’m sad that Joanna is not here to snuggle and shower with love and kisses.
While I am going to look forward to California for the next few weeks, and I am sure I will have a good time with my co-workers and hopefully see the Pacific again, I will be wishing for a different scenario. While Bill is in Rochester I will be wishing he were with me, with us – our little family of three (ok, four, counting Heinz).
The calendar reminds us that our lives do continue on, they must. We cannot stop time; change; things out of our control. We can only remember what has been, and try to look at the future with hope.
It’s still easier to just not look.
[Still] Gracious 
So true. I often look back on my younger days and long for my little girl again. EVen though I love you as much now that you are an adult, there was something special about those childhood days that I wish I had the chance to share with Joanna.
Yes, it is easier, but you are correct. Our lives go on, our future continues. We must face those things that come our way. You are brave and strong. I know it doesn’t always seem that way and that we all wish you didn’t have to be, we all wish that things hadn’t turned out the way they did, that Joanna’s arrival into this big old world was just around the corner. We love you and Bill, Joanna, and yes, Heinz. Our prayers are with you and for you. Our arms ache to console you but though we can hold you, consoling is a bigger job than we can handle, hoping you feel His love through us.