Sharing A Memory

The day Briana was born, I was the first mom to arrive in labor and delivery that day.  While I labored, woman after woman gave birth, so that by the end of the day (9:19 p.m., to be precise), there were no private rooms left.  So the last two of us to give birth shared a room.

The mother with whom I shared was of Latin descent.  OK, she was Mexican.  She left the baby in the nursery for as long as they would let her.  She never had a visitor.  She NEVER had a visitor.  She left the TV on all day and all night.  When they came to our room to fill out birth certificates, I learned that her baby was a girl named Elizabeth.  But she and her boyfriend (remember how she NEVER had a visitor?) hadn't decided which last name Elizabeth would have.  The night before we were to be discharged from the hospital, Elizabeth's mommy got on the phone.  She must have made ten phone calls, telling people that she had had her baby and asking for a ride home. 

While Elizabeth was snoozing in the nursery and Mom was watching TV, Briana and I hung out.  We talked to each other (we had to do it spirit-to-spirit because Bri couldn't talk, and I can't talk to babies without crying) and to our visitors, who included Spencer, my parents, Spencer, my brother, Spencer, my brother's friend, Spencer, my sister, Spencer, my co-worker, Spencer, my visiting teacher (with dinner, of course), and Spencer.  I also took phone calls from my grandparents, my parents-in-law, and Spencer.

On the morning we were going to be discharged, Spencer came early.  We dressed our baby in the special going-home outfit that my grandma had had made by one of her friends.  We took lots of pictures.  Finally we buckled our daughter into a car seat, went to our car, and carefully drove home to become a family.

I have often wondered what happened to Elizabeth.  She would be 21 now.  Did her parents stay together?  Did she have siblings?  Is she married and/or mothering her own child(ren) now?  Was she a good student?  What talents did she discover?  Did she look like Mom or Dad?  Did she stay in Sacramento?

Also, who decided that two female spirits would come to the earth on the same day, at practically the same time, and one would not even have a definite last name, while the other would be cherished and protected and taught?

There are no answers, but I still wonder.  Maybe someday I'll get to meet Elizabeth.