The Storm That Lived Outside

This last weekend I attended the ANWA 21^st Annual Writers Conference. I sat near a lady who looked about my mother's age. She asked about my book I had written and I told her it was about me living with Congenital Rubella Syndrome.

She jumped from her chair and came over to hug me. She revealed how she had the German measles during the time she delivered her baby and how the hospital isolated her because the German measles was contagious. She was shocked that I had survived though the German measles so early in my mother’s pregnancy.

Last night at three in the morning I felt warmth encircled me as I walked down the dark walkway to the bathroom. That conversation I had with that lovely lady two days ago lingered in my mind.  Her story brought a peace as I envisioned my mother pregnant with me. I was startled with thoughts of how the German measles came through the back door and entered the womb that should have shield me from any harm. Thoughts of how it could have done more damage than it did. I could have made me mentally challenge, completely deaf, and caused so many other dreadful problems that could have change my life even more than it did.

I have been richly blessed. Even though I only have vision in one eye; I can still see my children; I can drive, and function like anyone else.

I have witness over the years mothers trying to get the right amount of rest, eat healthy, and make sure to take care of the unborn child that is growing inside them.

How horrible it must have been for my mother to deal with this awful disease that was destroying her baby. She couldn’t take a pill, get more rest or eat healthier to make the German measles leave her body.

As I walked back to my bedroom I thought about how my mother’s desire to protect me from harm was one of millions of trials she had to deal with in her life. I slipped back into bed and pulled the covers to protect me from the chill in the air. I thought as I rested my head on my pillow that my mother tried to protect me, from the storm that lived outside the walls of the womb that was under attack from the horrible decease named the German measles.