Friday, May 4, 2012

Oh, the Places She's Gone!

by Susan McBride

I was thinking today about all the places I've gone with Emily already, and she hasn't even been born. And I don't just mean trips taken, though she and I will be heading to Kansas City this weekend where I'll speak at that Komen affiliate's Pink Promise Brunch.

No, Emily hasn't been to Paris or even Disney World in my belly (although I went to the World's Fair in New York when I was in the womb, and my mother still likes to tell me how being pregnant allowed her to cut in front of everyone in lines--see, I was helpful even before birth!).

But Emily has been in a hyperbaric chamber (that was in February after our old furnace leaked carbon monoxide into our house)....
     
She's been on TV (she already loves the folks at "Great Day St. Louis," I can tell)....

She helped me teach a workshop at the Missouri Writers' Guild's conference and got to meet bestselling author Claire Cook (Emily's secretly hoping Claire will write a sequel to Must Love Dogs called Must Love Cats)....
 

She was with me when I spoke at the Maplewood Library (and she received two knitted baby hats from Mary Garrett, one with a Blue Note on it and another that looks like the top of a little red apple)....

And when I received the "Survivor of the Year" award from the St. Louis chapter of Susan G. Komen for the Cure (pink is Emily's favorite color)....

 Then she was feted with gifts at a baby shower ("Oh, Mom!" she sighed as I took a bite of a teething ring, just to check it out)....

I just hope she's having fun, doing all these things before her due date. As much as she kicks, I'd say she's having a ball. Or maybe she's trying to tell me, "Quit talking so much and moving around so much, Mom!  I'm trying to get a little rest here!"

So long as she's not annoyed by the clickety-clack of my keyboard since I've got revisions still to finish, a nonfiction e-book for HarperCollins to write about my breast cancer experience, and a rewrite of my young adult mystery for Random House. All due this year. Kind of like Emily (who should be making her grand entrance in about eight weeks...although she could show up in as soon as five weeks, said my doctor yesterday!).

10 comments:

  1. And just think of where she'll go once she comes out! :-)

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  2. That's assuming I'll ever let her out of the house (well, the world is so scary these days! Can I just build Disney World in the backyard?). ;-)

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  3. Ah, Maggie stole my line!! She will be a world traveler... And perhaps even a fabulous writer, just like her mom!!

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  4. You're going to have so much fun being a mom. We need to see lot of pictures of Emily when she gets here.

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  5. The world will be Emily's magic kingdom, surrounded by people who love her and her wonderful parents. Lucky, lucky girl!

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  6. Laura, Emily received a tarot card reading as a shower gift (yes, really!), and the cards said she may very well be a writer, like her mom! We shall see, I guess! :-)

    Marilyn, I promise pictures out the wazoo!

    Thanks, Mary! Ed and I feel pretty lucky, too!

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  7. I am so happy for you and excited to hear more after she is born! Enjoy all of it!

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  8. Maybe she is just saying, "I'm happy," just like mom and dad. You are all so high energy.

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  9. Hey, Susan, I pretty much kept my older daughter by my side or in our fenced back yard in Kansas until her younger sister came along five years later. My older daughter is our world traveler who now lives in London with her English husband. I told her recently that it was probably good for her that we had that second child or she might still be confined to the back yard!

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  10. Maureen, thank you! I can't believe she's coming so soon. I am SO ready to hold her in my arms! :-)

    Lil, I'd like to think she's saying, "I'm happy!" I will do everything in my power to ensure her life is filled with as much love and happiness as is humanly possible. (I don't know about the high energy! I feel like I'm running on fumes these days!)

    Pazt, I'm going to keep Emily by my side as much as I can, too! We'll see how it goes. ;-)

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