~day 26~ New Life

A few years ago a movie came out called Children of Men.  A dramatic, apocalyptic type movie.  I am not sure I knew going in what the true storyline was, but I do know I am in love with Clive Owen, and would see just about anything he is in.

If you can resist him, I envy you.  ;)

What the movie is actually about is a world in the future in which women no longer get pregnant or if they do get pregnant they do not carry to term.  There is no scientific reason they can find for this, nothing we "did" to ourselves as a race, and it is a worldwide phenomenon.  The last "baby" has just turned 18 in the opening scenes of the movie.  If I recall he gets mobbed or attacked or something because he is seen as a messiah type figure because he was the last child born on the planet.  Ultimately a woman is found who has conceived naturally and is already at or past 8 months along and Clive's task is to try to get her safely to a place where she can have this child safely.  There are all sorts of political intrigues hinted at but never explained.

All of that explanation to say that babies give me hope.  Hope that God has not given up on us as a race yet.  Hope that there is still love in the world.  Hope that there are still relationships and bonds and connections and commitments.  I have two good friends who are pregnant now and if you compare it against the world in the movie, they are totally taking their pregnancies for granted.  In fact, one of them is so miserably ill she has not enjoyed a single second of her pregnancy.  "Morning Sickness" doesn't even begin to describe what she's endured these last couple of months. 

In fact, we don't even have to make a comparison to such a drastic difference in the world.  I used to work for an adoption agency.  Nearly every family that came to us to build a family through adoption had tried some form of fertility treatment.  I can guarantee that every single one of those women would gladly take the miserable morning sickness my friend has if they knew it was because they had gotten pregnant. 

I hate winter.  I hate being cold.  I hate the months on end of gloominess.  I hate getting off work in the dark.   The only up side to winter is cuddling, which isn't even an up side for me since I have no one to cuddle with  except my body pillow ...... and let's just be clear, that is totally not the same.  The only other benefit of winter is the fresh appreciation of spring.  I was especially amused this year, just a week or two ago when we were complaining about having to get out blankets or heavier jackets or sweaters.  Because in March? That exact same temperature is cause not only for celebration, but for shorts and flip flops.  There is hope in more sunshine in a day.  There is hope in melting snow.  There is hope in shedding the excess layers and showing your skin to the sun again.  As long as we have new life, in some form, I think we can keep on hoping.  As long as my African Violets keep blooming, I'll keep hoping.

Violet - my 1st African Violet. She's bloomed at least 5 times in the last 2 years.