Don't Sweat It.......Part 3 from Two Souls on Their Journey

Continuing: I had just asked a stranger, Marilyn, and her newborn baby to come live with me, my husband and four kids.

The baby cried during the drive home, making conversation impossible. For this I was grateful because it gave me time to think about how I could rearrange the beds. By the late hour Daryl came home, all sleeping arrangements had been taken care of and the baby, newly named Sara, was sleeping in a laundry basket beside her exhausted Mother. When I told my husband what I had done, he didn't seem at all surprised. He reassured me that if I thought it was the right thing to do, it was OK. WOW... Suddenly our family had increased to eight and a peaceful silence permeated the crowded house.

In a couple weeks, Marilyn was fully recovered and found a job. I was mostly stuck at home with kids all day, anyway, so what was one more baby? We fell into a routine and our life pretty much settled into normal. When Marilyn came home from work, we had a chance to talk and it felt like we had known each other all our lives. We talked and talked and talked and were able to laugh at anything. We were so much alike, in spite of the fact I was eight years older.

Harvey, the baby's Father, started coming over to see baby Sara. On weekends, he'd bring his guitar and singing buddies and entertain us. Daryl began guitar lessons and he and Harvey seemed to bond immediately. Marilyn was happy and I knew she still cared deeply for Harvey. She arranged a baptismal gathering with Daryl and me as god parents and invited her parents and Harvey's parents. Baby Sara was passed from Grandparent to Grandparent with gentle love. Marilyn's father, the proclaimed ogre, was giving out cigars like the baby was his idea. I felt a cold shiver when I thought how close Marilyn came to signing the papers that would have given Sara to another family. But now, Baby Sara would always be surrounded by family love.

Friday and Saturday nights, we'd get a sitter and listen to music on the West Bank or at the Purple Goblet. Bob Dylan, Bonnie Rait, Peter, Paul and Mary were getting known by singing for beer and peanuts. It was at one of these outings that Harvey proposed to Marilyn. They bought a house on Lake Minnetonka and settled into family life after the wedding. It was at Daryl's and my cabin in Northern Minnesota that Marilyn went into labor with their second baby. In a couple more years, they had a third...

We still kept in touch with the crowd from the Nic. Weddings, baptisms, and then time stretched into kid's graduations. We saw Marilyn and Harvey every weekend and Marilyn and I talked on the phone almost daily, a habit we have continued for fifty years.

Baby Sara is now fifty. Inheriting her Father's art and musical ability, she sings with a popular gospel group, that just returned from a tour of concerts in France. Her artistic ability is apparent in the tasteful jewelry she designs. Her business clientele is made up of movie stars and women of discerning taste. I'm not bragging nor do I want to be a name dropper, it's just that I'm so darn proud of her.

That's about it. How do you cram fifty years in a short post? If there's a moral to this story, I think it's........ don't question the Universe. She's got it all figured out and is way ahead of you.

There will be one more short sequel next post but this is pretty much the whole story.

Bob Dylan wrote "Blowin in the Wind" but it was made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary.