heading where no man has gone before...

No, this post isn't about Star Trek, although I do enjoy a good episode or two. And the movies are generally pretty good too. No, this is about today, which is going to be a big day in the lives of the Grofreeppley family. That's the Gross, Freeby, Peppleys - in case you were wondering. That would be the Matt & Alissa Peppley (us), Randy & Cathy Freeby (Alissa's parents), Matthew & Kim Freeby (Alissa's brother and sister-in-law), and Jason and Katie Gross (Alissa's sister and brother-in-law) families. Also, this day will likely be noted by lots of other people in our extended families.

You may ask yourself why, and that is okay. It's not because today marks the 65th day since our sweet little Anna Joy was born. Nor is it because it's the weekend before Katie's 30th birthday (sorry Katie...or should I say Happy Birthday?), nor is it because we are heading into uncharted territory. You see, today marks the day that Matthew and Kim are having their 3rd little baby girl (heretofore and henceforth known as "Junior") delievered via caesar salad section.

Alissa & Kim a few days before Anna was born.

Well, we are kinda heading into uncharted territory, at least for us. The big question for all of us, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. is how are we supposed to react to this beautiful baby? I'm assuming she's beautiful anyway...most babies (in my opinion) are not pretty, but their first two were pretty cute, so I'm betting number three will be as well. Anyway -- none of us know what to do. Do we sing for joy at the birth of Junior, or do we weep with sorrow at the passing of Anna? Or do we do both? If so, how do you mix joy with sorrow? You see, those two things don't typically mix well. They're kinda like water and oil. Well, not exactly. Water and oil don't mix at all. But joy and sorrow do mix, albeit not that well.

We in the Grofreeppley household have had many discussions over the last few days about this very topic. And there have been lots of tears sitting in the corners of eyes during the conversations. You see, we all miss Anna, but we also can't wait to meet Junior. But how are we going to react? Who knows?

Last night Matthew and I were discussing today's event while we stood in the parking lot at Wal-Mart. Not your typical place for a meaningful conversation, but sometimes you can't choose the ideal locale, so there we were. Both of us wanted to say something to the other, but neither of us knew what to say! From my standpoint, I wanted to tell him to not worry about being happy and joyful for Junior's arrival. From his standpoint, he wanted to tell me to not worry if Alissa and I feel like we can't be around because of too much pain. But then, neither of us felt like that was adequate for what both of us as c0-fathers and c0-brother-in-laws are having to deal with. But the point is that we, as well as the rest of the family, feel like we don't really know what to say to each other.

But we are all trying to be cognizant of each other's feelings. Matthew and I decided that while there must be people out there that have gone through similar situations, we don't know anyone who has had a granddaughter/daughter/niece/cousin/sister born and die eleven days later, and then have a granddaughter/daughter/niece/cousin/sister born about two months later. Crazy! That's what this is. Just plain crazy!

The point of this is this: we will miss Anna Joy a lot today. But we will be extremely pleased to meet Junior (whatever her name will be...) and will be filled with joy. And when I say "we," I mean all of the Grofreeppley household.

By the way, when Anna's Aunt Kim held her on the day she died (Anna died, not Kim...), baby Junior jumped as soon as Anna was placed on Kim's belly. And Junior continued to jump and jump and jump. So we all think that Anna and Junior have a very special connection. Grami Cathy has pictured the two of them giving high fives on their way past each other - Anna going to heaven and Junior coming!

Auntie Kim holding Anna while "Junior" jumps.
Very powerful moment!

Oh, Junior's here now. I think we're going to go see her and cry. A lot.