About this time thirty-one years ago, I was frantically washing my elbow length hair. Why do I remember this? I was feeling contractions about two minutes apart, and even though the doctor had told me just the afternoon before not to expect my baby for about two weeks, this was the real deal. It was a Friday and Mel had a test at school that morning so he had been up late studying. He was in his pedo rotation. He usually rode his bike the thirteen miles to school, but was planning to car pool with Mark Peterson and Bob Critchfield that day. It was Mark's turn to drive. Mel called Mark to tell him he wouldn't be riding and to ask if Shelley could watch our other kids while we went to the hospital. It was a foggy morning, because we weren't in Arizona, and I remember how little our three looked getting out of the car and running with their blankets through the wet air into our friends house. At the hospital, the nurse checked me and her eyes grew wide as she ran for the doctor. He came in and literally caught our baby as she entered the world at 6:30 AM, not more than a very few minutes after our arrival at the hospital. It was the first time Mel was in the delivery room and it all made him a little light headed. But she was as beautiful as an Arizona sunrise, and had we been in Arizona, there may have been a beautiful sunrise, but we weren't. She was Sara. The doctor was surprised that she was more than four pounds, like he had predicted and that she came so soon. So, I was fine, she was fine, and Mel was fine, so he went to school and took his test and went on to the pedo clinic to finish out his day. Happy Beautiful Arizona Sunrise! Happy Birthday Sara!
