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Bystander's Log

The Good

By K.B RoscoePublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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It has been an interesting and mixed bag of experiences thus far, driving people here and there as a ride share driver. I've been witness and target of some great, good, bad, and ugly circumstances, behaviors and stories in and out of my car. This is my favorite story thus far.

In receiving a request to pick someone up from one of the terminals here at DFW international airport, I pulled my car up to the curb and a bespectacled, petite woman with a reddish-brown pixie cut entered my car. She seemed frenetic; the way one gets when you receive news that seems too momentous for your mind or body to comprehend. She was kind but distracted, and once she revealed her news, barely before we left the city-sized airport, I sincerely asked her why she hadn't mentioned it sooner.

We had started our conversation with exchanges of names and hometowns, mixed in fractional customary pleasantries. She spoke on the phone to family members and friends, who all seemed to reverberate with the same confusion across the phone connection. Frantically asking her about her state of mind and perhaps her need for food and company. After her conversation with her close friend, I asked why she came to Fort Worth.

She subtly relayed the purpose of her visit, "My baby is being born."

The sentence almost presented as a question to herself, as much as a statement for my benefit. If you've never been so happy that you're physically disoriented, this is the result of that state of mind; complete overwhelm. Physical dizziness accompanied by pulsing feelings of alternating joy and confusion.

She told me the name of her baby-to- be and why her husband kept calling and asking her to eat something. The call to her opportunity for parenthood had occurred within three hours. After receiving the phone call, she was on a plane within an hour and a half timespan. Now, having landed, she was sprinting to pick up her child.

We made it under an hour to the hospital, and she ran inside.

Perhaps things don't happen for a reason, but in my life, there has not been a conformational event that has come too late or too early for me to recognize its particular value and peculiarly appropriate timelines. I didn't know if I wanted to drive, but the value of this experience was conformational to say the least.

For many, parenthood is an aspect of life that comes incidentally. For others, it's something for which they painstakingly prepare, through invasive medical procedures, home interviews, and surveys, and high financial and emotional costs, all without the guarantee of a child to join the family before the end of that process.

That being said, sometimes people fight for the privilege of parenthood for the wrong reasons. They may succumb to the stressors of the process of fostering or adoption and become angry parents. I have no way to know, apart from how excited she was for that child, what kind of parents they'll be, but I do know that child was wanted and fought for. It's nearly impossible to go through the process of adoption without keenly feeling that it's a privilege to become a parent. When you fight for something for a long time and receive the desired goal, it's not easy to forget the lesson without willful disregard for the gift of your achievement.

humanity
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About the Creator

K.B Roscoe

Human, student, listener, artist, writer. University of North Texas allum. Autism and special education representation advocate.

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