Five years ago tonight, at this very moment, Barry and Janie and I were traveling Rt.95 South on our way to NYC.

The evening didn’t start out this way.  Before our little detour, Barry and I were headed to Newport for dinner.  It was a spectacularly beautiful Friday evening, and I commented to Barry about the ribbons of pinks and blues and purples in the sky as the sun began to settle in for the night.  We had an even better view of the sky than usual because we were traveling over the Mount Hope Bridge in Bristol, RI as all the colors came into view.  I said, “Wouldn’t this be a beautiful night for William to come.”

No sooner did these words come from my lips when my cell phone rang.  It was Audrey.  She was experiencing pretty heavy contractions and was going to call her obstetrician.  She told us not to change our plans and that she would be calling with an update.

Not change plans?  This was our daughter having her first baby.   Three and a half hours away.

We turned around at the end of the bridge and headed back home.  There, we picked up our packed bags… the ones packed for this very occasion, and called Janie.  We hadn’t yet heard from Audrey again, but we were going to pick up Janie and head right down the highway to NYC.  Which we did.  Well, we made a quick stop at Dunkin’ Donuts first…

Soon after we headed out on our journey, Audrey called again. She said not to get all excited because she might be sent home.  False alarm.

We didn’t care.  We were on our way and that’s where we would stay!  But we didn’t tell Audrey that.  Not yet. About a half hour into our journey, Audrey called to tell us that her water had broken, and yes, she had been admitted.  This was perfect… because we were already into Connecticut by then.  We told Audrey that we were on the way.  Audrey said that Matt would be calling with updates.  This made me panic… because Matt is not the let-you-know-each-detail-as-it-unfolds kind of guy. No, siree.  He is more the-baby-is-here kind of guy.  OK.  I thought I was going to see my little grandson a few hours old by the time we arrived.

That would not happen.

I will say that I need not have worried about the updates.  Matt called many times during our journey and gave us play-by-play developments.  Barry drove.  Jane chatted.  I worried… like moms do.  When we arrived in NYC, we headed directly to the hospital.  It was late when we arrived and we had the wonderful fortune of meeting up with the most wonderful night staff.  We were allowed to see Audrey and Matt, and one nurse told me that the baby would be here by the next afternoon.

Afternoon?

We went to Audrey and Matt’s apartment for the night… and I couldn’t sleep a wink.  I watched the sun come up on William’s birthday in New York City.  I felt the warmth and wonder and miracle of the day.  September 25th.

By 10:00 am, the whole family from Rhode Island had arrived… as well as Matt’s best friend from Pittsburgh. We all sat in the waiting area of the hospital and talked and laughed and waited and waited.

And waited.

I was able to sneak in to see Audrey every once-in-awhile… which was wonderfully reassuring.  And we waited some more.

Then… at a little before 2:00 pm, Matt came out to tell us about our beautiful William.  He was perfect.  Perfect.  Perfect.  Perfect.  And Audrey was perfect, too.  I was able to go in to see both Audrey and William and I will never forget the miracle and beauty of that moment.  My daughter had just had her own baby.  We both cried and hugged and I picked up William and held him tightly to my heart.  He looked up at me and must have wondered, “What’s all the crying about?  I’m here!”

Yes, William was here.  My precious, marvelous, beautiful, delightful, precocious William.  I can hardly believe that 5 years have flown by.  William will be 5 in a couple of hours and to count the moments of joy and love that this child has brought to us is mathematically impossible.  There is no number big enough to capture the joy.

I LOVE YOU MY LITTLE DARLING WILLIAM AND I WISH YOU THE HAPPIEST 5th BIRTHDAY IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!  YOU ARE ENCHANTING… FROM THE FIRST MOMENT YOU LET ME KNOW YOU WERE COMING WITH THOSE PINKS AND BLUES AND PURPLES IN THE SKY… TO THIS VERY MOMENT!  YOU ARE LOVE!