Before yesterday, we had only met Desiree, Isaac's birth mother, once: On the same day that we first met Isaac when we was five months old.
A day later, we never saw Desiree again.
Yesterday we attended a memorial service in Oceanside. The service is for Lila, Isaac's biological grandmother and Desiree's mother. We had never met Lila before a few weeks ago, but then I received a Facebook message from Lila. She said she had been looking for us for many years and found our Baldwin family web site a while back. She said a day hadn't gone by in 12 years that she didn't think about Isaac. She asked if Isaac might want to meet her, and when we talked to Isaac about it, he said he'd be very interested. (By the way, he said he wasn't quite ready to meet Desiree yet).
So on October 25 we met Lila for dinner at Island's restaurant in Carlsbad, shared a great conversation, watched Lila and Isaac exchange glances, prayed for Lila, and then agreed that next time we might include Sally, Lila's mother and Isaac's bio great-grandmother. Lila also said that she'd planned to stop smoking again the next week.
On Halloween, Melissa received a call from Sally saying Lila had had a heart attack, had a collapsed lung, and had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance and was in ICU.
The next day Lila passed away.
Isaac thought it was nice to have a grandmother that had this special bond with him and so he wanted to go to her memorial service, knowing of course that Desiree would be there with her three children.
Everyone seemed very excited about meeting Isaac, especially a biological cousin, Ashley, who is only a few months older than Isaac; and for much of the time Isaac was also flanked by his biological half-siblings: Alyssa, Hope and Chris. Uncles and cousins also embraced Isaac, but none so much as great-grandmother Sally did. In one day she said good-bye to her precious daughter and reunited with a beloved great-grandson.
The day was about Lila and her life, of course, but we appreciated the invitation to have Isaac be part of the day, and to have us join the family gathering.
So on October 25 we met Lila for dinner at Island's restaurant in Carlsbad, shared a great conversation, watched Lila and Isaac exchange glances, prayed for Lila, and then agreed that next time we might include Sally, Lila's mother and Isaac's bio great-grandmother. Lila also said that she'd planned to stop smoking again the next week.
On Halloween, Melissa received a call from Sally saying Lila had had a heart attack, had a collapsed lung, and had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance and was in ICU.
The next day Lila passed away.
Isaac thought it was nice to have a grandmother that had this special bond with him and so he wanted to go to her memorial service, knowing of course that Desiree would be there with her three children.
Everyone seemed very excited about meeting Isaac, especially a biological cousin, Ashley, who is only a few months older than Isaac; and for much of the time Isaac was also flanked by his biological half-siblings: Alyssa, Hope and Chris. Uncles and cousins also embraced Isaac, but none so much as great-grandmother Sally did. In one day she said good-bye to her precious daughter and reunited with a beloved great-grandson.
The day was about Lila and her life, of course, but we appreciated the invitation to have Isaac be part of the day, and to have us join the family gathering.
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