Gail Schimmel: The Park | Blog Tour | Pregnant musings from a swollen belly...Reading about Rebecca
Early in Rebecca's pregnancy, she finds herself enjoying a routine of procrastinating, drinking tea and stroking her belly. That pretty much sum's up my existence over the past few months.
Just like our protagonist, I'm expecting a bundle of (grief? angst? hysteria?) joy in the next few months and as I read about her exploits from the comforts of my highly pillowed bed, I found myself frowning through her anxieties, admiring her never-ending maternal juice and practically sighing in exhaustion on account of her overall busyness. She may then, have provided a book-realm crash course in what can be expected in the next few months. The unyielding defense for her (adopted) daughter; the desire to connect with similar situation moms and a potential for a supernatural compassion so powerful that it may attract curious types people with needs that are too big to voice out loud.
Like Rebecca, I too have a 'Sean' who colours my days with husbandly charm that will soon extend into the realm of fatherhood. And like Rebecca, I appreciate him and cannot imagine the struggles that the Lilith's of the world have to go through in terms of enduring abuse in a pregnancy and then raising a child alone. I've known incredible women who have been abandoned with their swollen bellies either through fate or someone's choice and I cannot sing the praises of these unsung heroes enough. You never quite realise the sacrifice and sense of overwhelming that goes into bringing life into the world until you have to see it through your own eyes. So as a reader you cannot help but develop a macabre compassion for the choices that Lilith has made.
So here's to the Amazon's that we walk amongst everyday, the ones who scuttle about with swollen bellies to make the lives of those around (and inside of) them work. And, especially to those who don't have the support to get up and say "Ok, lets do this" for yet another day.
