On International Women’s Day
[guest post by Dana]
I was going to write up a post this morning about International Women’s Day and the call to participate in the “Day Without A Woman” strike, except I couldn’t because I had to rush off to work to fulfill the obligations and responsibilities to which I agreed upon when becoming employed. Ah, work ethic, you are a burdensome bitch…to me anyway, but apparently not to Democratic women in Congress.
Anyway, perusing the internet tonight, this seems to be a good summation of the event, and reflective of its participants:
But instead of focusing on today’s math-challenged women and the ridiculousness of the feminine, I’ll leave you instead with the picture of a real woman whose bravery and toughness rivals that of any man. She is an honorable woman who clearly bears the marks of having known the steadfast love of a good man, has reveled in the gift that is her womb as she provides safe harbor for her baby, and, as a result of a noble sacrifice she is making, will come to know a deeper, richer meaning to life than most of us ever will:
The other night, before I left for New Orleans, I was watching my beautiful wife sleep peacefully on the couch.
I looked at her laying there, her belly big with our daughter kicking away, a daughter that won’t live more than a few days, and it just overwhelmed me of how incredible this woman is. I’m a writer so when I’m feeling something, I tend to have to write it down. So I pulled out my phone and started writing what I was thinking. And I realized tonight sitting a thousand miles away in a hotel room, especially after meeting this awesome kid named Jarrius that’s been everywhere at All-Star Weekend who needs a liver transplant, that instead of just keeping this one for me like I normally do, I should tell everyone else just how incredible Keri Young is. (I also miss her five seconds after I leave the house for a trip so I’m thinking about her all the time anyway.)I thought back to the moment where we found out Eva wasn’t perfect, and how literally 30 seconds after our doctor told us our baby doesn’t have a brain, somehow through full body ugly crying, Keri looked up and asked, “If I carry her full term, can we donate her organs?” I remember our doctor putting her hand on Keri’s shoulder and saying, “Oh honey, that’s so brave of you to say.” Like, how nice of you, but come on. Keri meant it. There I was, crestfallen and heartbroken, but I momentarily got lifted out of the moment and just stood in awe of her. I was a spectator to my own life, watching a superhero find her superpowers. In literally the worst moment of her life, finding out her baby was going to die, it took her less than a minute to think of someone else and how her selflessness could help. It’s one of the most powerful things I’ve ever experienced. In the eight years we’ve been married (and 15 years together) I’ve had a lot of moments stop me in my tracks where I thought, “holy crap, this woman I’m married to, lucky me.” But this one was different. It hit me that not only am I married to my very best friend, but to a truly remarkable, special human being.
This whole process has been rough, but I say that as someone watching from the bleachers like the rest of you. Keri has been in the trenches the entire time, feeling every little kick, every hiccup and every roll. She’s reminded every moment of every day that she’s carrying a baby that will die. Her back hurts. Her feet are sore. She’s got all the super fun pregnant stuff going on. But the light at the end of her nine-month tunnel will turn into a darkness she’s never felt before a couple hours or days after Eva is born. She’s the one that is going to deal with all that comes with having a baby– her milk coming in, the recovery process, etc, but with no snuggly, soft, beautiful newborn to look at to remind you that it was all worth it.
We made our choice to carry Eva to full term for a lot of reasons, but the first and foremost was to donate her organs. We don’t say that to try and sound like great people or anything. It was just a practical endgame that in our minds, before we came to the realization Eva is alive and our daughter deserves to meet her mama and daddy, gave us a purpose to continue on. Donating was on Keri’s mind from darn near the second we found out and while the experience of holding and kissing our daughter will be something we cherish forever, the gift(s) she’s got inside that little body of hers is what really matters. Keri saw that almost instantly. That kid Jarrius wears a shirt that says “It Takes Lives To Save Lives.” I couldn’t stop thinking about that all day. There’s another family out there hurting and hoping for a miracle for their baby, knowing full well someone else’s baby will need to die first. Eva can be that miracle.
We’re getting closer to the finish line, and while it’s going to be amazing to run through that tape and meet Eva, it comes at a cost. We’ll go to the hospital for a birth, and go home without a baby.
A lot of people say things like, “I wouldn’t change anything” after a trying circumstance, but I’m not about to say that. I would definitely change this if I could. I want my daughter to be perfect. I want her to blow out her candles on her first birthday. I want to watch her bang her head on our coffee table trying to learn to walk. I want her to run up a cell phone bill texting boys. I want to walk her down an aisle. I want to change it all so, so badly. But I can’t. This is our reality. And there’s no stopping it.
Whenever Harrison gets hurt, or has to pull a bandaid off or something, Keri will ask him, “Are you tough? Are you BRAVE?” And that little boy will nod his head and say, “I tough! I brave!” I’m looking at Keri right now and I don’t even have to ask. She’s TOUGH. She’s BRAVE. She’s incredible. She’s remarkable. She’s cut from a different cloth, combining wit, beauty, courage, silliness, character and integrity into one spectacular woman. And somehow, she’s my wife. Not that I needed some awful situation like this to actually see all of that, but what it did was make me want to tell everyone else about it.
Let’s celebrate women like this every day of the year. For real nobility lives quietly among us, and quickens our hearts when we near its radiant glow.
(Cross posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
So humbled by this woman.
Dana (023079) — 3/8/2017 @ 5:52 pmi stopped at the mariano’s for a few things on way home
got there early enough there was no line
the checker is all super pleasant and then says
“and of course have a happy women’s suffrage day”
and i just said as chipperly as I could
You too!
make it stop
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/8/2017 @ 6:05 pmIts pronounced nutroots
narciso (d1f714) — 3/8/2017 @ 6:57 pmhttp://www.netrootsnation.org/nn_events/nn-14/student-debt-and-wall-street-how-finance-is-taking-a-growing-share-of-higher-education-spending-and-what-we-can-do-about-it
I thought back to the moment where we found out Eva wasn’t perfect, and how literally 30 seconds after our doctor told us our baby doesn’t have a brain, somehow through full body ugly crying, Keri looked up and asked, “If I carry her full term, can we donate her organs?” I remember our doctor putting her hand on Keri’s shoulder and saying, “Oh honey, that’s so brave of you to say.” Like, how nice of you, but come on.
Sorry, but that sounds like the worst doctor ever. I hope that Royce Young misinterpreted what the doctor intended to convey, but in this day and age when a child in the womb is considered a disposable accessory by many, including people in the medical professions, I am afraid that he probably didn’t.
JVW (5de783) — 3/8/2017 @ 7:02 pm“and of course have a happy women’s suffrage day”
and i just said as chipperly as I could
You should have just given her a quizzical look and said, “Why would anyone be happy about women suffering?”
JVW (5de783) — 3/8/2017 @ 7:05 pmi’d already googled about the day this morning and it was something like international commie hoochie day
so after the grocery store i googled to see if that had anything to do with suffrage
nope
that’s in august
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/8/2017 @ 7:09 pmSome people’s heart and empathy are beyond measure, and then you have the likes of stamp whose ignorance is measured in parsecs
narciso (d1f714) — 3/8/2017 @ 7:14 pm(Yawn) – what’s the next smug socialists anti-capitalism day? They seem to be multiplying.
Harkin (b9f2f5) — 3/8/2017 @ 7:39 pmIt was a day without elite women. Did you miss them?
AZ Bob (99e30f) — 3/8/2017 @ 7:48 pmit’s a good thing nasty hillary isn’t president
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/8/2017 @ 8:11 pmotherwise, who would have been running the country today?
this would have been the day that north korea struck
not a single mention of russia today on the national soros radio homepage
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/8/2017 @ 8:24 pmWell Alice is back on the magicians, could be a figment of his imagination.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/8/2017 @ 8:33 pmoh good good i know that bugged you
i’m still behind on everything, and this is our last blast of winter and i have company coming so looks like it’ll be a good while before i get caught up
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/9/2017 @ 5:25 amAw man, I’m expecting my first child in two months and I can’t imagine the pain and courage that family must have right now. My heart both aches for their situation and is thankful that people like that exist.
Burnside (8fa39f) — 3/9/2017 @ 6:26 amI’m still trying to find out who births the other half of the population. It’s not on the internet or in my set of World Book encyclopedias.
nk (dbc370) — 3/9/2017 @ 7:06 amnk, the other half was aborted – it goes without saying.
felipe (b5e0f4) — 3/9/2017 @ 7:20 amWaitaminute! “we” could refer to Dems. It was a partisan statement. Republican women and their progeny are unpersons. Then again it could be evidence of a mindset that has divided the population into native-born and foreign-born. Who knows?
felipe (b5e0f4) — 3/9/2017 @ 7:28 amI had a Sammy moment.
felipe (b5e0f4) — 3/9/2017 @ 7:30 amPerfect example of what happens when you quit teaching math, or much of anything else, in school.
Bang Gunly (5a4596) — 3/9/2017 @ 7:42 amMy wife told me days before, don’t include me with those femanazies.
mg (c7fc74) — 3/9/2017 @ 7:46 amBear coffe opens at 6 am at the San Clemente pier. Coffee Roasters in Dana Point opens at 4am. It is excellent.
My wife can’t stand Soros funded women.
mg (c7fc74) — 3/9/2017 @ 7:49 am#19 Bang Gunly, but at least kids these days are being taught that Christopher Columbus was a Nazi who opposed transgender bathrooms. (LOL)
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/9/2017 @ 7:52 amI skimmed through a blog earlier this week which I can no longer find where a guy in Washington state has a petition to change the states name because George was a slave owner and shouldn’t be recognized. There is no limit to the institutional stupidity of the left.
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 3/9/2017 @ 7:58 amFrom the “That’s a hellofa good answer” Department:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0g-nCC-otqc/UrZAMrAg1CI/AAAAAAAAgKE/LfoLKAmx3gw/s815/913qc.jpg
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 3/9/2017 @ 8:01 amGreetings:
If I remember correctly, somewhere I read that all Working Families are equal and some Working Families are more equal.
11B40 (6abb5c) — 3/9/2017 @ 8:04 amwow..1 hat story will reverberate wih me for a ong time, she u=is nded a remarkable woman, one that takes the lessnstat Christ tried to teach us seriously
I ften say that the courtesies men take with women, opening of doors etc, is NoT a recognition that they are weaker but instead a mark of honor which they deserve. my own wife on yesterday’s day of strike was out of town, seeing to the well being of her parents. I too am blessed with a partner of much greater quality stuff that that with which I made…
neoCn_1 (4d97ca) — 3/9/2017 @ 8:04 amLmao, cs
mg (97d997) — 3/9/2017 @ 8:13 amNever mind, this is Nelini [Food] Stamp. No further explanation needed.
nk (dbc370) — 3/9/2017 @ 8:26 amFor you, Hoagie, you’ll like this.
nk (dbc370) — 3/9/2017 @ 8:30 amHahahaha. Liar, liar pants on fire!
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 3/9/2017 @ 8:36 amThe slice of American pie has changed, nk.
mg (91d955) — 3/9/2017 @ 10:40 amWowzer
If women birth half the population who births the other half?
Math Guy (a1fcbe) — 3/9/2017 @ 1:42 pmmichelle duggar?
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/9/2017 @ 2:05 pmHohum
narciso (d1f714) — 3/9/2017 @ 2:16 pmhttp://legalinsurrection.com/2017/03/irs-releases-nearly-7000-tea-party-documents/#comments
So which is scarier, the original tweet or the retweets and likes?!?!?
stosh (ab2f0c) — 3/9/2017 @ 3:14 pmMany of the RTs are because it is hilarious. Some added their own commentary (text and/or pictures) in RTs.
NickM (d6362a) — 3/12/2017 @ 11:31 pm