Annabelle’s Song

I am a singer. Not a good singer, but I sing all the time, everywhere. My two living children each have a special song. I sang to them while changing, nursing, rocking them, pretty much whenever. There was always a song that they responded to and that I loved singing to them that became their special song.

While my husband and I were at the hospital, knowing our Annabelle had already died, but waiting for the induction drugs to kick in I said, “I wonder what Annabelle’s song will be?” I figured there would be a song that I would sing in the coming months of sorrow that would stand out, that would help me feel connected to her and that would eventually become her song.

After she was born and the nurse put her tiny, frail body in my arms I began to sing without thinking, “Oh, Oh, Oh Annabelle. This is not the end, this is not the end of us, we will shine like the stars, bright, brighter.”

I didn’t have to wait. I was given Annabelle’s song as soon as I held her. What a gift.