Long Distance

     I was very pregnant on April 25th, 2001 - achingly uncomfortably pregnant.  As I sat in the baby's nursery wishing away the next twenty-four hours so that I could finally meet my sweet baby boy, my phone rang.  It was my grandmother and she was calling me long distance - something she never ever did.  Grandma and I wrote letters to one another because we both liked receiving letters and because she hated the expense of calling long distance on the telephone.  She never enjoyed the conversations-  she was always worried about how much the call was going to cost.  Letters were better. But there she was on the other end of the line asking how I was feeling.  After a few minutes of chatting she started to tell me about the day my own mother was born. As I sat there rocking back and forth I heard how she had been at home by herself hanging clothes out on the line when she went into labor. She had to walk to the schoolhouse up the road to tell her friend (who was teaching school there) that she thought she was in labor and needed some help.  She told me how my mother was born at home and that the doctor only arrived after everything was over. She never mentioned being scared but I can only imagine that she must have been. This was probably the sweetest phone call I've ever received and it was one of the most memorable conversations Grandma and I ever had (and we had a lot of conversations).  She had called long distance to check on me and reassure me that everything was going to be alright.  And she was right, it was.