Angels Can Sing..

It is interesting how small incidents in our lives bring back a flood of memories of events gone by. Even though these memories may be buried deep down in our hearts and minds, they still succeed in becoming an integral part of our lives. As we walk through the rocky road called life, we encounter such events that leave a strong mark on our future. It is those events that create these strong unforgettable memories that become a part of us.

One of those memories of my daughter’s past came flooding to me this evening. As I left her bedside after bidding her ‘goodnight’ and thinking that she had fallen asleep, I heard a small angelic voice call out “mama, mama’ as she scrambled out of her bed to seek me out again. My heart just fluttered at the sound of her voice as I rushed back into the room and cuddled her back to sleep assuring her that “mama” is here and will not leave her side until she was asleep.

As I waited for her eyes to surrender to the slumber of sleep, I couldn’t help but recall the first time I heard my daughter’s voice. She was over a year old at the time. You see, when my daughter was born prematurely, she required to be put on a ventilator in order to survive. Due to the complexity of her birth and critical medical condition after the birth, she remained on this ventilator for over five months. The goal, at that time was to get her off the ventilator and stabilize her medically to enable her to someday come home. I never even cared about the long-term effect that the ventilator may have on her vocal cords. I just wanted to be able to hold my child and comfort her just like any other mother should.

Alexandra finally made it home at eight months of age. She arrived home on an Oxygen, tank, apnea monitor and a g-tube. We accepted and dealt with her “attachments” as our normal baby routine. Aside from smiling, she was very quite. I never thought that one-day, a few months later, I would hear a strange squeaking sound that I could not explain. A sound so small but yet so powerful. A sound so sweet that it resembled an angel singing. It suddenly dawned on me that it was my Alex’s voice. I had finally heard it.

It is a blessing that, Alex’s vocal cords had healed from the scar tissue left by the ventilator. Each time I hear her shout out “Mama’, I am yet amazed and grateful for every day and each progress that she has made. In spite of all the challenges, I thank God for letting me hear my angel sing..

©Copyright 2008.Najwa S. Hirn. All rights reserved.