A new baby in the family .... chess blow by blow

This Week in Lincolnville: Tiny Fingers

.....bluebirds, hearts, and stars
Mon, 03/19/2018 - 12:45pm

    Nora O’Brien arrived just as St. Patrick’s Day festivities were in full swing in Midcoast bars and restaurants, the corned beef and cabbage, “Danny Boy” and foaming beer mugs a world away from the quiet, softly-lit room in Pen Bay Medical Center, where she made her entrance. Hanji Chang and Andy O’Brien, my son and daughter-in-law, are her parents. She’s continued a family tradition by appearing on a holiday; like her father, uncles, and mother who arrived on Thanksgiving, New Years Day, Veterans Day, and the Fourth of July respectively, Nora will always have a parade on her birthday.

     Nora’s entrance into the outside world of air and sound and light was well attended as her dad, one grandma and an aunt sat with her mom through the long night and day of labor. Every woman who’s ever given birth recalls those hours, the hardest work I’ve ever done, I always say. And then, the miracle happens: instantly, the pain and effort end and as a friend wrote me this morning “my son was flopped onto my belly, cord attached, and stayed there for two years.”  

     Like all first babies, her arrival has made parents of the two who conceived her. Simplistic and obvious, isn’t it, yet such a profound change. Wrote my eloquent friend about attending births: “Sometimes it felt like being in an animated Disney movie. I expected to see bluebirds and hearts and stars circling round the new mother's head.”

     As I write, Nora and her mom are still in the hospital, due to come home today. Another friend remembered that day, when he and his wife brought home their first, scared to death (“I’d never held a baby in my life,” he said). They’d wrapped the baby up so tightly he couldn’t move.

    CALENDAR 

    MONDAY, MAR. 19
    Nomination papers available, Town Office

    Recreation Committee meets, 6 p.m., Town Office


    TUESDAY, MAR. 20

    Needlework Group, 4-6 p.m., Library


    THURSDAY, MAR. 22

    Free Soup Café, noon-1 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road


    FRIDAY, MAR. 23

    Writers Group, 9 a.m., Library


    EVERY WEEK

    AA meetings, Tuesdays & Fridays at 12:15 p.m., Wednesdays & Sundays at 6 p.m., United Christian Church

    Lincolnville Community Library, open Tuesdays, 4-7, Wednesdays, 2-7, Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-noon. For information call 763-4343.

    Soup Café, every Thursday, noon—1p.m., Community Building, Sponsored by United Christian Church. Free, though donations to the Community Building are appreciated

    Schoolhouse Museum is closed for the season. Visit by appointment: 789-5984.

    Bayshore Baptist Church, Sunday School for all ages, 9:30 a.m., Worship Service at 11 a.m., Atlantic Highway

    United Christian Church, Worship Service 9:30 a.m., Children’s Church during service, 18 Searsmont Road


    COMING UP

    April 13: Nomination Papers due back

     

     Nora Jin O’Brien, aka Zhang Luo Ya, will grow up speaking three languages, her grandmother’s Korean, her mother’s Mandarin, and her Maine family’s English. Both of her grandfathers have passed away, but her middle name honors one and memories of the other, my Wally, spill out spontaneously as we recall how happy he’d be.

     Perhaps it’s the jumbled up heritage Wally and I brought to our marriage, he not knowing who his father was, me not knowing either of my parents, that makes genetics seem so central. Little Nora Jin carries genes from around the world, from Asia – Taiwan and Korea, from Europe – British Isles and Germany, to Maine where they all combined to make this new being.

     She was barely an hour old as I watched Sammeh Choi with her first grandchild, gently uncurling those tiny fingers again and again, marveling at their perfection. I did the same thing with my own first-born, seeing for the first time someone I was actually related to.

    And besides, it’s almost spring. I think of the little onions unfurling their tender shoots in the greenhouse. St. Patty’s Day, new growth, a long-anticipated baby. Just right.


    Town

    Nomination papers for municipal positions (selectmen, school and budget committees) are available now at the Town Office.


    School

    Chess fans, check out the play by play recap of the recent K-6 State Chess Tournament held at University of Maine’s Orono campus a couple of weeks ago – as exciting as any soccer or basketball game!

    The eighth grade will be holding a bottle drive April 7-8 so save those returnables.


    Boy Scouts

    From a recent LBB (Lincolnville Bulletin Board) post: “…. YES, there are Boy Scouts around here. Boy Scout Troop 200 meets in Camden and serves boys from Northport, Lincolnville, Camden, Rockport, Union, Washington, Warren and Rockland. Any boy age 11-18 is welcome!  We offer weekly classes in organization, self-reliance, teamwork, and lots more.” Turns out the Troop is in search of canning jars or small vases for a Mother’s Day flower bouquet sale. Contact Assistant Scoutmaster Ed Hurlburt, 596-1280.


    Library

    Librarian Elizabeth Eudy says it will be “a mellow week at the Library with the not-so-mellow knitters gathering for a bonus meet on Tuesday from 4 until 6.  Bring your crochet, your knitting, or other needlework; all are welcome to join this fun and encouraging group.

    The Writing Group will meet at 9 a.m. on Friday with Sheila.  The group, which meets twice a month to share ideas and writings, always welcomes newcomers.

    The Library will open Tuesday at 4 and close early at 6, open Wednesday 2 until 7 p.m., and open Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon.  Please drop in!