Enchanted Summer Night

The wonderful Artist group that I belong to (American Holiday Artist Ornaments), had a neat challenge that I had intended to participate in this month, entitled 'Enchanted Summer Nights'. The deadline for listing the creations was tonight. I was so close to being finished - but alas, I was hijacked by my own 'Enchanted Summer Night'.

We had the most magical and moving evening last night at the Little Church, just down the road from us. A favourite classical musical duo - 'Cow & Sow', turned the simple little building into a concert hall, filling it with beautiful & inspiring music.

Meanwhile, Ashley & Andy's baby - our third grandbabe, was due the previous day. For months, Ashley has been under the instructions 'No baby between 5 pm & 11 pm on May 30th, but after that ... go for it!' Well, true to the thoughtful & considerate daughter that she has always been, she headed to the hospital about 10 pm.

The evening had turned warm and beautiful - sultry after the rain we'd had. It felt like the type of July night that I love so much - the kind where the air is so thick that it hangs like moss in live oak trees; where it feels like a blanket has been quietly slipped over the night, softening and hushing the sounds of the busy world. The kind that makes me want to stay up all night, trying to soak it in deep enough to feed my spirit in the depths of the long winter. For me, with my 'southern soul', that is an enchanted summer night. The weather has been so unseasonably chilly lately that it seems like summer will never come. It was a particularly pleasant and welcome surprise to walk out into that weather and feeling in the middle of a spring night, a gift on a very memorable evening.

Jaime was just finishing up her shift at the hospital. Alyssa & I met her there and we had our own little 'labour party' vigil. There was none of the usual hustle & bustle that fills the corridors during the other two thirds of the day. In fact, it was surreal - like we were cocooned in our own private world; as if the magic of the night outside had been transported into that normally austere and clincial space - the hushed shroud of a sultry night dropped over the entire building. There was not a single soul around, just the three of us sending our energy and positive thoughts across the deserted halls of the hospital, to the woman of our clan who was busy working on a miracle.

And indeed, as the curtain rose from that enchanted night and life resumed as the hospital filled with the sounds of an ordinary day, the miracle occured. A beautiful new soul arrived. The miraculous and wonderous moment when our hearts open wider and fill that space with the love, joy and dreams of a cherished and treasured new life - a precious baby boy.

'Gibson Brian Daniel' 7:13 am, Saturday, May 31st, 2008