February 2001
February 27th, 2001 was a normal, crisp, but sunny day. Leah Albertson and Bruce Albertson have been happily married for almost 2 years now. They were expecting their first child.
February, 20th, 2001 is the day I was due. On February, 21st, my parents knew it would take another week for me to be born. On February, 27th, my mom’s water broke. She tells me it was the happiest and the most stressful moments of her life. It started out as a normal day of being pregnant for my mother. She kissed my dad goodbye, then applied her mascara with a familiar ease. She worked at Southwestern College as a professor from when she was pregnant with me, until I was three. My mom has a record for being right 99.99% of the time. Her intuitions are almost never wrong or misleading. In a spur of the moment decision, she called off sick from work. She had a gut feeling something big was going to happen. My mom stayed home that day due to to her intuitions. “Bruce, you need to have your phone on you at all times” She reminded him Around lunch time, her water broke. She immediately called my dad alerting him to come home immediately because, “This baby is coming, now.” she urgently stated over the phone “Are you sure?” My dad asked “Yes Bruce, I’m sure.” she sarcastically replied “I'm in the car, pack a bag of whatever you need” he calmly replies. My mom is usually a pretty calm person, although she gets easily excited and loud (A trait I have received). She tells me she felt like she was at the highest point on a roller coaster, about to drop. When they were on the freeway to the hospital, it started raining. My mom started calling her mom and sisters as well as my dad’s mom and sister. “My water broke, we are driving to the hospital” she recited this to all of their immediate family over the phone. My Auntie Lynn was taking a test at her college, She thanks me every birthday for gettting her out of it. My dad’s parents lived up in Fort Bragg so it was almost impossible to make it there in time to see me born, but they made it anyway. To this day I do not know how they did it. My mom’s parents lived closer so as soon as they got the call, they left their house to meet us at the hospital. All of my aunts were in the waiting room by the time my parents got to the hospital. My parents got a room with a skylight. When they entered the hospital, it was raining. By the time they got to their room, it was like the glass panel on the roof had never seen a drop of rain. On the third episode of a long forgotten game show, the hail inundated the pane like a constant knocking. The sun then emitted from the hail as if it knew there was something special. At 7:00 pm on February 27, 2001, the nurse took me back, cleaned me up, and swaddled me. When my mom married my dad, his whole family expected a redheaded baby. They were elated to see that I received the gene. My Mom was the first to hold me. Her emotions were running wild when the nurse gently handed me to my mom. She felt like her world was being flipped upside down. She tells me she was in shock, that she was overwhelmed with joy, and she was so proud to finally meet the child that she had been carrying for 9 months. My dad was the second to hold me. He was in awe of how he had just created a living, breathing, human being. He told my mom right then and there that I was an old soul. That I had done this before and I was ready to face the world again. |
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Project Reflection
For the Project Resonance Of Remembrance, I wrote a memoir about my birth because we were told to write about an important moment in our lives, so why not write about the moment when my life began. The purpose of this memoir was to honor my mom because she is my biggest confidant and supporter. Through this project, I learned how to use descriptive writing through dialogue, describing the setting, and using sound to enhance a story.
In class we discussed many strategies that Tim O’Brien used to write a great memoir. One strategy that helped me when I wrote my memoir was adding dialogue to enhance the urgency of the situation. Tim O’Brien used this strategy in his book, The Things They Carried, When he talked about Mary Anne (Mark Fossie,A Platoon member’s, girlfriend) coming to Vietnam as foreshadowing. He wrote, “The guys sometimes liked to kid her about it- our own little native, they’d say- but Mary Anne would just smile and stick out her tongue. “I’m Here,” she’d say, “I might as well learn something.”” I used this strategy when I wrote about the conversation my mom and dad had when her water broke. I wrote, “”Yes Bruce, I'm sure (my water broke”” By using dialogue, I was able to imply the sarcastic nature of my mom into my memoir.
Another strategy that helped me when I wrote my memoir was describing the setting. Tim O’Brien used this strategy when he talked about Rat Kiley telling a true war story about Curt Lemon. He wrote “I still remember that trail junction and those giant trees and a soft dripping sound beyond the trees.” I used this strategy when I wrote about the weather on the windowpane on the hospital roof. I wrote, “My parents got a room with a skylight. When they entered the hospital, it was raining. By the time they got to their room, it was like the glass panel on the roof had never seen a drop of rain. On the third episode of a long forgotten game show, the hail inundated the pane like a constant knocking. The sun then emitted from the hail as if it knew there was something special.” By describing the weather changing, I was able to use descriptive imagery to increase the intimate feeling of the situation.
In addition to incorporating O’Brien’s writing strategies, the sounds that we included in our memoirs greatly enhanced the stories we told. The most effective sound I used was the sounds of rain, hail, and thunder. I used this sound when I was describing my grandparent’s drive up to see me in the hospital. In my opinion, this sound enhanced this part of my memoir because it gives this moment a richer meaning.
By listening to others’ memoirs and writing my own, I realised that when people write memoirs like this, they pour their heart and soul out into it. We should care about others’ real life stories because it can show you how they grew into the person they are today.