"...Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon....You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine" – Katy Perry
It was the 2002 NCAA Women's Division I basketball tournament. UConn would defeat Oklahoma 82-70 in the championship game. San Antonio was the host city for the Final Four, and with that came Hoop City - for three days Johnny and I volunteered at the Hemisfair Convention Center, chasing basketballs, blowing whistles, and smelling like a gymnasium. During one of our breaks that Monday, I told him that I thought that maybe I was pregnant. He looked at me, not sure what to say, and said that I should just take a test to be sure.
After we were done, and said our goodbye’s to the group we headed back to his mom’s. We stopped at Walgreen’s and bought a home pregnancy test. We ate dinner at his mom’s, the whole time my heart was racing, knowing that little pink and white box was sitting in my purse, waiting for me…taunting me. I finally got back to my apartment, my roommate Mary was waiting for me since I had already called her to tell her what I was coming home to do. I had taken one other pregnancy test before, so I knew what I was doing, but those were the longest two minutes of my life!
When I walked over to the counter, I looked at that little white stick, with TWO pink lines, and then I looked at the box, then back at the stick, then at the box…then the stick…the box…the stick….I must’ve done that for about ten minutes. Mary came to the door, knocked and said, “So, what did it say?” As if a little plastic white stick could talk to me…but the crazy thing is, it DID talk to me. It told me that life as I knew it was over. Mary was in shock, and didn’t know what else to say besides, “OH SHIT!” I called Johnny and he said, “Woohoo!” He was truly excited, but why wasn’t I? Maybe it was fear – fear of having to tell my parents, fear of what I would do, fear that I wasn’t ready to be a mother, or maybe all of the above.
Yeah, I’ll go with ALL OF THE ABOVE!
The next few weeks were a bit of a whirlwind. We gathered all my future in-laws at Black Eyed Pea for dinner and broke the news to them there. They were all happy for us, and since I couldn’t really avoid my family for the next nine months, we sat down with my mom and dad and gave them the news. My dad made sure to tell us, a few times, that if we needed ANYTHING, anything at all, to let him know. That he was there for us. My mom on the other hand, had a few other things to say. She made sure to tell us, just like my future mother-in-law did, that just because I was pregnant didn’t mean we had to get married. We agreed with the both of them, but Johnny made sure to tell my parents that he intended on marrying me anyway, because he wanted to. My mother reminded me what this meant, that abortion wasn’t an option, and that she hoped I knew what I was in store for. There were a few tough conversations that followed in the next few weeks, but by the end of my first trimester, I was fine. I was pregnant. I was going to have a baby. I was going to be a mother. Here I go!
On November 7, 2002, my life didn’t end, it began. It changed forever. Mary Frances Garcia was born at 1:25am. She was 7lbs 6ozs, she was so small...so fragile, and I had never been more scared in my life then when the nurse placed her in my arms. At that moment, everything I thought I knew was wrong...and if I thought I had ever really loved someone, I was proven wrong, as I looked at her beautiful little face. This little baby girl was more than I ever expected...and she was all mine. She’s the firework in my life. She ignited my heart, my mind, and my soul; she’s helped me to shine as a woman and more importantly, as a mother. She truly is brighter than the moon.
Till next time...
