Tram Ride

The threesome enjoyed a tram ride up to one of the local children's hospitals today, to deliver a few gifts to the kids there. It was an exciting day for Clara--she loved the tram, enjoyed making cards for the kids, liked handing over a package to the nurses, had a ball running around with Lucas and Sophia after snack. It definitely made the mamas feel grateful and humble to have our healthy children in hand while seeing other families in the halls who are facing such challenges. It was a reflective time for me in particular, I think, as I know that if Ellery and Olivia had been born today instead of three and a half years ago, they may have survived (preemies at their gestation are more routinely taken to the NICU today, and the survival rate for babies born when they were is is up from less than 50% to more than 70%). That reality is hard for us to face on some days when we are missing our girls and struggling with some of the ways being their parents has changed us, but we also know that with a different outcome we would most likely have spent a lifetime in and out of hospitals and doctor's offices, wondering what our daughters would have been with a few more weeks to grow. It is strange for me to see other families living that life, feeling both like they are so lucky to have their children and feeling heartbroken for the sacrifices and agonizing choices that fill their days.

I wish I could say Clara had some profound realization about thanksgiving and sharing good fortune or even about the wonders of aerial transportation, but I'm afraid what she most learned was a new vocabulary word. I suppose I can take the blame for this because I dressed her in my favorite outfit, thinking she should look nice to visit the hospital. She received several compliments and when we returned home grabbed some fabric out of her scrap bag, held it up and said, "Mama, this fabric is so STYLISH!" Ack.Clara makes a card for the kids at Doernbecher.Sophia thinks hard on the best illustrations to accompany her greeting.Lucas looks out on the city from the tram window. View of a passing tram from our tram window on the decent.