{"id":379671,"date":"2012-07-21T17:26:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-21T17:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2012\/07\/21\/every-day-a-new-story-begins-part-i-sudden-death\/"},"modified":"2012-07-21T17:26:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-21T17:26:00","slug":"every-day-a-new-story-begins-part-i-sudden-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2012\/07\/21\/every-day-a-new-story-begins-part-i-sudden-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Day a New Story Begins, Part I, Sudden Death"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/a>\u201cEvery day a new story does begin, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d The shop owner said as he rung up my purchase.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it doesn\u2019t even take a day,\u201d I replied.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cEvery second a new story begins.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I learned this lesson twenty-two years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the labor and delivery room.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I saw the fleeting look of panic in the nurse\u2019s eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

When her hasty retreat from the room shattered my picture perfect pregnancy.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Warren returned from his business call, and my voice quivered out, \u201cI think something\u2019s wrong with the baby.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When I felt the gush of fluids after the doctor broke my water.<\/span><\/p>\n

“<\/span>Looks like pea soup in there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When the room became a flurry of people barking orders and poking me with needles.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the nurse said to my hubby, \u201cWe need you to sign these release papers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When I woke from the foggy haze and choked out a whisper.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s my baby?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When someone responded.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry. He didn\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

E<\/span>verything changed in a second.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I screamed out for Warren, just before everything went black, a<\/span>gain.<\/span><\/div>\n

* <\/span>* <\/span>*<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span>I had never really experienced death.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My parents had to put our dog to sleep when I was away at college.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I cried myself to sleep for days.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But no cousins, brothers, sisters, or friends had ever passed away.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Even my grandparents were living.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A few years prior, the mother of a new co-worker had died.<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want to go to her funeral, but my boss wouldn\u2019t take no<\/i> for an answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

I left the funeral home, as gracefully as I could, when I saw people draped over the corpse in the coffin.<\/span><\/p>\n

They are touching and <\/i>kissing a <\/i>dead body<\/i>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I hid behind an ancient oak, sobbing and gasping for air.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My fear changed in an instant.<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

* <\/span>* <\/span>*<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span>\u201cWhere is he? I want to see him,\u201d I informed the staff even before the anesthesia wore off.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When they delivered him into my arms the first time, I couldn\u2019t even open my eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I can’t see him! Warren, I can’t see him!”<\/span><\/p>\n

But later, when I was more alert, and the medical team agreed to bring him to me once more, I drank in every ounce of my firstborn.<\/span><\/p>\n

I caressed his rose-petal-soft skin.<\/span><\/p>\n

I marveled at his ten tiny fingers and counted his ten tiny toes.<\/span><\/p>\n

I stroked his thin layer of black hair.<\/span><\/p>\n

I kissed him.<\/span><\/p>\n

His forehead.<\/span><\/p>\n

His hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

His face.<\/span><\/p>\n

His puffy blue lips.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything changed in an instant.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time,\u201d the nurse said for the second time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to say goodbye.\u201d<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

* <\/span>* <\/span>*<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span>Twenty-five years ago, nineteen-year-old Lisette Torres left home on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/span><\/p>\n

Never to return.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her murder unsolved for two-and-a-half decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her family wondering, waiting for good news.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything changes in an instant.<\/span><\/p>\n

I stumbled upon <\/span>this news piece<\/span><\/a> today.<\/span><\/p>\n

The killer has been caught.<\/span><\/p>\n

The family\u2019s life altered in an entirely new way.<\/span><\/p>\n

* <\/span>* <\/span>*<\/span><\/div>\n
News headlines are littered with accounts of sudden death.<\/span><\/div>\n
S<\/span>age Stallone, son of Sylvester Stallone, dead at age 36<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
Huffpost reported the story of eighteen-year-old Brittney Walsh, killed by a drunk driver<\/span><\/a> just days after her high school graduation.<\/span><\/div>\n
New details in the JonBenet Ramsey murder<\/span><\/a>, still unsolved after sixteen years.<\/span><\/div>\n
The Aurora movie massacre<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
Countless other stories that never reach mainstream media.<\/span><\/div>\n
* * *<\/span><\/div>\n
Shortly after Gavin died, a tempest raged outside our home.<\/span><\/div>\n
Rain pelted the windows as thunder shook the ground and lightening lit up the sky.<\/span><\/div>\n
As quickly as it had begun, the storm subsided.<\/span><\/div>\n
A brilliant rainbow left in its wake, arcing across the dark sky.<\/span> <\/div>\n
And we saw it…<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

Soon\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEvery day a new story does begin, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d The shop owner said as he rung up my purchase. \u201cSometimes it doesn\u2019t even take a day,\u201d I replied. \u201cEvery second a new story begins.\u201d I learned this lesson twenty-two years ago. In the labor and delivery room. When I saw the fleeting look of panic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,418,419,171,61,36,269,420,421,54,422,423,424,425],"class_list":["post-379671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-annah-elizabeth","tag-aurora-movie-massacre","tag-brittney-walsh","tag-chlid-loss","tag-death","tag-grief","tag-huffpost","tag-jonbenet-ramsey","tag-killed-by-a-drunk-driver","tag-loss-and-healing","tag-murder","tag-sage-stallone","tag-sudden-death","tag-sylvester-stallone"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/New-Story-Begins-Plaque.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}