Circle of Life

On Wednesday, March 27, our 9th grandchild, 5th grandson, Samuel Carter Bishop, came into the world. I say “our” because he is the 9th grandchild for Steve and me. If it weren’t for Steve, I wouldn’t have baby Sam in my life.

Steve and I had a blended family. Steve has 3 children and I have 2 sons from what we liked to call our “starter marriages”. The father of Sam is Justin, Steve’s youngest. Justin is 1 year and 2 days older than my oldest son, Joshua. They were almost 11 and 12 when we got married in 1987. Justin was very excited to have 2 younger brothers while Josh was not happy about this shift in ‘sibling’ order or being part of a blended family. It was a rocky start for our new family but after years of respecting feelings, not forcing unrealistic expectations, and just letting them know Steve and I were in it for the long haul and their conflicts would not change our commitment, the family really did blend.

Fast forward 30 plus years and Steve’s kids are my kids and my kids love and miss Steve as if he were their natural father. We all know we are here for each other when needed even though we are all very different and our lives may take us far from each other.

Now we have baby Sam. We are so happy to have this new life in our family. He doesn’t replace Steve or Gary, my daughter-in-law’s father who died last year, but he does complete the circle of life. We are born, we live, we die, another life is born, they live, they die and so it goes.

All for now with all my love