"The longest walk home that any parent will ever take,
is the one after their child has run ahead of them."
I thought the removal of a cancerous lump on Jenny's arm in 1972 was going to be the toughest thing she would have to face. I was wrong. At Tracy's wedding on June 25, 1994, Jenny was nine months pregnant and expecting any day. It was a happy day for everyone, and certainly for Mike and Jenny as they looked forward to the birth of their second child. Five days later, on June 30, 1994, Jenny went to her doctor for a checkup and the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat of Jenny's child. What devastating news for Jenny to hear! Bonnie and I were still in Big Bear when she called with the terrible news. The family, including us and Mike's parents, gathered at Methodist Hospital to give Jenny support as the decision was made that she would go through labor and deliver a full-term still-born baby. It's difficult to imagine a sadder day. The child was a boy and they had decided to name him Christian. We all took turns holding this beautiful, fully developed baby boy, who had died in Jenny's belly just hours earlier because the cord had twisted around him and cutoff his blood supply. When I think of this sad situation with Jenny and Christian, I also always think of my mother and my brother Stephen, who died at just three weeks of age. My mother never talked about Stephen, at least not around me. But she did open up and talk with Jenny about losing him and Jenny's loss of Christian. I think it was very therapeutic for both of them.
Christian would be 24 years old today. Bonnie and I make a habit of visiting Christian once in a while - the photo below was taken during the Christmas holidays last year. We think of him often.
