In 1962, after graduation … I was married at age eighteen, then to find out my husband was an alcoholic … yes, you may say I was naïve … and indeed I was. My parents were very strict and I was wanting out from under their thumbs. We had our first child in 1964, he was stillborn and was carried to our hometown for burial, in the back seat with my husband for graveside services … I was still in the hospital and remained there for five days.
The years went by and on special occasions I was not there to decorate his grave as should have been done … I just got to visit when we came back to West Virginia. In 1987 my brother died and after his funeral I decided to go visit the baby’s grave … then I went back to the drugstore and got some small toys to put on his grave as I felt guilty not being around to decorate like I felt I should have been. I got a little blue ball bat and another small toy and put wire in the top of the bat (squeeze toy) and started to push it into the ground … remember twenty-three years had passed.
Just when I pushed the wire down in the ground I heard a small child say “MOMMY,YOU DIDN’T FORGET MY BIRTHDAY!!!” and the truth is I DID FORGET! IT WAS HIS BIRTHDAY … AND I HAD FORGOTTEN! Talk about shock. I thank God for letting me know the child I had, is there waiting on me … thanks for listening …
