A Reeeeaaaally White Christmas

Well, here it is,  almost 4:00AM, and I am looking out our motel window at snow falling softly on top of the two-plus feet already here in the West Virginia mountains, from the weekend blizzard. The manager at Carnifex Ferry Cabins is working to get the power back on and a driveway plowed to our Christmas cabin. We are at a lovely place in Beckley waiting for his call to tell us the cabin is ready. Ah, the best laid plans, etc., etc.

Actually, we are quite comfortable and enjoying this place very much. Our only real problem, so far, is persuading our Florida dog that it is OK to go poopies out in that cold, white stuff. He does look awfully cute on his plaid fleece coat, but refuses to wear the little leather boots. However, between potty battles, there are cookies, egg nog, cocoa and carols at the fireplace in the lobby. There is a 12-foot tree, decorated to the nines, in the center of the lobby/lounge and we're not complaining.

This is our unexpected adventure....plans sidelined by something natural, something awe-inspiring, something scary and beautiful at the same time. It made me wish that my unexpected adventure, becoming pregnant at 16, could have been viewed in the same light....as something natural and, while frightening and problematic, something miraculous and lovely. A new life, a new family member, the result of the most natural urges all life feels, should not be viewed as a crisis of disasterous proportions. What is wrong with this society that we would view unmarried pregnancy with such abhorrence?

It's even more ironic that I am pondering this question during a time when the Christian world chooses to celebrate the purported birth of a baby boy to an unmarried, 13-year-old girl. Yes, I understand that the baby boy in question is believed by many to be the Son of God and a holy miracle. But any time I look into the face of any newborn baby, I see a sacred miracle. And any woman who has ever felt that fierce, brilliant, frightening response to the first movement felt in her womb, the first sight of the child of her body to nourish and protect has participated in something that is worthy of carols, gold and celebration.

The story of that baby boy of Mary's goes on to tell of his later years, when he exhorted us to love one another, to care for the poor, the weak and the needy. I seem to remember a passage in Matthew, 25:40, where he is quoted as saying, "....in as much as ye have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." The "it" he spoke of was simple kindness and charity. Now, call me crazy, but I'll bet there are quite a few mothers who will agree with me that kindness and charity were definitely not a part of the reaction to their unexpected miracles. The same churches that celebrate Mary's miracle, denounce ours and promote the idea of our children being raised by those they consider more "fit."

All it would have taken  would have been simple kindness, a helping hand and a family that could celebrate the arrival of an innocent child into their midst rather than react with shame and censure. Yeah, yeah..I know that was the way society was (and, unfortunately, still is with some groups and individuals) but that fact doesn't make the Era of Mass Surrender right or just. I remember thinking, when pregnant with my oldest and getting ready for a sad holiday, that all were saying to me, "We're going to take your baby...Merry f****** Christmas." And whenever I hear an adopter refer to the child they obtained as a "gift" from the natural mother, I cringe.

Humanity has yet to be able to produce any thing as awesome as a snow-storm. Such a thing is beyond the power of mere men.  In the same vein, they can issue decrees and sign writs and make laws until it snows in Florida, but only Nature can make a mother.

Now, I intend to ignore the hateful responses I am bound to receive from adopters and grateful adoptees, etc., and take my dog for a walk in the snow. He has to let nature take its course, sooner or later.