For me, Lori was born right before Yearbook signing day in 1978. On the day we were to go up to the hospital to see her and Mom, a girl who had not spoken to me for several months, asked if I’d sign her yearbook. And she asked me to call her in the summer. Of course I was thinking about her later in the day when we went up to the hospital, but the important fact in life was that we were going to see my new little sister. Lori had been born on the eighteenth anniversary of my parents’ getting engaged. I’m sure when Dad proposed marriage to Mom that neither of them foresaw what would take place exactly eighteen years later. Actually they talked of having twelve children in those first years. But practice is more difficult than theory. When Mom had her sixth child she said to my Dad, “Okay, I’ve had my six, now it’s your turn to have them.” However, Mom eventually had two more children. And here we were, at the hospital seeing the eighth one. With excitement we all peered through the glass window of the hospital nursery. The new baby was so tiny! Even though we had all seen a younger sibling shortly after birth (except two-year-old Johnny) we were amazed at how small she was. Children grow so fast and we had forgotten how small new-borns are. All of us were overcome with joy at seeing our new little sister. Hospitals had just relaxed rules about even letting children in to see a new baby. With the other children, the first time we had seen the new baby was when he or she came home from the hospital. This was quite new for all of us. Mom had also been allowed out of her room and came out with us to view the baby in the nursery window. Afterward we sat in a waiting room and visited with Mom for a while.
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