I adored my first husband. We were childhood sweethearts, went to church together, had similar likes and dislikes. We married young, because we "had" to. I was keeping myself, so to speak, but then his parents decided he should go to college out of state. This is when we figured we'd make our own plans. That way, no one could separate us. (A good lesson for parents who don't think that young people can really be in love.)

I have always regretted, deeply, that I made that decision. We did end up getting married. I lost that baby and planned to have another. I took my temperature to make sure I'd conceive. Jonathan, my only child, was the result of that union.

I adore my son. But, he was born with a bilateral cleft of the lip and palate. My husband, his father, brought his girlfriend - this is no lie - to the hospital to meet me on the day our son was born!

I had a hard labor and delivery and was still hooked up to I don't remember what. But if I could have gotten out of bed, I would have forgotten myself, for sure.

Gerald and I had been separated because he had experimented with drugs and apparently decided that he was going to live his life with them always in his life. I stayed at home with my parents, while I was pregnant. I was convinced that when he saw the baby and held our baby, that he would return to his old self. When I saw this woman, I knew this reunion was never to be.

My second husband and I met at the hospital when Jonathan was born. He was friends with a cousin who wanted to visit me, but had a problem driving at night in unfamiliar territory. So he brought her.

John asked me out on Valentine's Day. For two months, he visited me and my baby. He walked the floors to console baby, who often had colic, as cleft children do. He walked the halls of hospitals, after Jonathan had surgery.

I did not believe in divorce and remarriage at that time. But then, I felt in my heart like God had sent me this man.
A twenty-four year old man walking the halls with an unconsolable, screaming infant. A man who actually got me a charge card in my name - just in case.

I married John in 1974 and we've been together for all of these years. I'd marry him again in a minute. We've had some very bad years together and some very good years. All in all, as we have grown older and wiser, our marriage had blossomed!
He is a gift from God.

Emily in Maryland