“Why, Soitenly!”

It’s Sunday morning. Mother’s Day. We became parents over 23 years ago and I remember it well. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon of rest. We lived in north Alabama at the time and had been to Nashville the night before to attend the Grand Ole Opry with friends from church. Janice was in her eighth month with the child to later be named Joshua.

She came into the living room where I was watching TV and made some very odd comments just before collapsing to the floor in convulsions. Not knowing what to do, I called my sister who, in turn, called for an ambulance. By the time we reached the hospital, Janice was in a coma. Her blood pressure skyrocketing. I was assured as soon as the baby was delivered her blood pressure would drop.

Josh was born premature and Janice’s blood pressure continued to rise. And she continued to remain in a coma. Three more days. In the meantime, Josh was dealing with his own problems. He had a critical respiratory condition where the gasses in his lungs were not exchanging. He was slowly dying of carbon dioxide poisoning. We had to rush him to a neo-natal intensive care unit 60 miles to the east of us. Janice remained in a coma. The vessels in her eyes were rupturing due to the high blood pressure. It would be a year before she could see clearly again.

Finally, after three long days, Janice came out of her coma and Josh’s condition was stabilized. On that Wednesday it looked as if I might walk away with both my wife and our son alive.

He was small. Those proverbial people we refer to as “they” told me he might have some developmental problems. “They” were wrong.

Last night, surrounded by majestic mountains and 600 other graduates, Josh graduated from Azusa Pacific University with his degree in psychology. And today is a beautiful Mother’s Day.