Nora's 5th Birthday

Yes, we are clearly trying to catch up on many recent happenings!  Despite the end of the 2012 gardening/canning season, life continues to feel full and overflowing, mostly with really good stuff.  The current project list (which we tend to just shelve for the spring/summer due to the immediacy of food preservation) hasn't diminished in size since spring and we have gotten a start on a handful of large projects - which means we have a number of large projects underway but not completed.  I'm battling internally my desire to wrap them all up as quickly as possible, which is often a recipe for more stress on our family system than is desirable!  It didn't help that I hatched another such project on our way home from supper club last night...  One day at a time.

One day at a time. One step at a time. One appointment at a time. One feeding or nap at a time.  That is how I journeyed through much of our short time with Nora.  Recently we've been grateful for times set aside to reflect on who Nora was and is to our family.  On October 30th she would have turned 5.  It's always kind of strange for me around anniversary times and particularly feels a little odd that the time around her birthday can often be more difficult than the time around her death.  The time leading up to the day of her birth was so full of unknowns and the days following the same, as well as being thrust into an environment like no other...the NICU.  The week leading up to Nora's death, while excruciating in some ways, included so many precious times with a little person we had grown to deeply love, respect, and cherish.  The feelings of being connected to her and to each other and having much more of a sense of control over her care and what she needed, helps to have the memories of those days being ones that have contributed to my own healing journey.

This year as her birthday approached, we thought about how we wanted to mark it together and who we might wish to invite to join us.  Ever since we started giving blood regularly in Nora's memory after her death, I thought it would be "fun" to have others join us.  It still seems odd for me to connect the word "fun" with being stuck by a needle...

Well the evening of her birthday we had about 20 persons join us at Virginia Blood Services, plus some great kid cheerleaders!  And it was fun, but much more than that.  It meant a lot to both Jason and me to have others join us in this ritual that has become very meaningful for us.  Some that gathered knew Nora well and some didn't know her at all.  Some had given blood regularly for years, for some this was the very first time.  Just as I overcame my intense fear/minor phobia of needles, we saw others do the same (or at least get started!).  There are many pictures of the evening, of both strained and relaxed faces.  We'll treasure them all (while not putting them out here publicly, without permission of the gracious donors!). As we gathered the leftover snacks, Nora's memory box, and headed home with Kali and Alida we felt energized and grateful for a very memorable marking of Nora's birthday.  It really was a party!  Thanks to all that joined us. We plan to do it again - and may not wait a full year to do so...