By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
When my daughter Heidi was grown, she was the first one out of our four children to give us a grandchild. When she was five months along, one day by chance we both happened to be at the Kingston Mall at the same time. Heidi had been concerned about her baby being deaf as both she and the baby’s father are deaf.
In the center aisle of the mall that day was a display of very big wind chimes suspended from a metal rack. Heidi and I spotted each other at the same time and walked towards one another. When she was under the rack of chimes, a little boy ran through them hitting the clappers, which caused both melodious and clashing sounds simultaneously. Heidi turned her hearing aid off and put her hands on her stomach to protect the baby and was staring at me wide-eyed. She grabbed my arm as we stepped out from under the wind chimes. I asked if she was okay and she told me the baby was kicking and moving and didn’t stop until the chimes stopped. I was as thrilled as she was because she realized it meant the baby could hear.
In April 1994, Heidi presented my husband Dave and I with our first grandchild whose name is Alisha. I felt honored to be in the delivery room with Heidi and her husband Chris when Alisha was born. She was beautiful and perfect and has extra-sensitive hearing. The day after her birth when I went to the Hospital to visit, Alisha was laying down on her tummy beside Heidi on the hospital bed. When Heidi went to move her, her little fist went up in the air and her bottom lip jutted out, as if to say, NO! Heidi let her stay in that position and down went her little fist and her little mouth relaxed as well. Heidi and I looked at each other smiling as that told us she was already her own person, which has held true.
The first day she was home from the hospital, our kids (her aunts and uncles) came to visit. Grandparents on both sides of the family and great-grandparents took turns coming a few days later. Alisha’s grandfather Frank, on her dad’s side and Dave, my husband, were in competition when it came to buying pajamas, bibs and other articles of clothing for the baby. Frank graduated from Holy Cross College and Dave from Boston College. They both got her clothing from their Alma Maters and were hoping she’d attend the colleges they did – which she didn’t. Dave and I loved taking care of her and she often stayed overnight at our house.
My husband Dave and my stepdaughter, Donna (Dave’s daughter), are Alisha’s God parents. Dave felt a need to be more involved with his church, which was The Lady of the Lake Church in Halifax where we live. Because he was one of Alisha’s godparents, he felt it was important and he went to talk with the priest, Father Murphy, several times and was asked if he would be interested in working with the teenagers who attended Saturday classes. He decided to give it a try.
Starting in the Fall of 1997, Dave was also a therapist and dealt with all kinds of personalities in his work. This also helped him deal with the young people in the Saturday classes at the church, keeping them focused and interested. All through the winter he led his class at church and became friends with some of the other adults who were also educating, leading and guiding the classes. Throughout the Holiday Season, all went well, and he felt he was making progress when the students asked questions about some of the teachings of the Bible, the Catholic Faith, sacraments, prayer and beliefs and faith in Jesus the Christ. The more questions the young people asked and the deeper the discussions the happier Dave was as he felt he was truly reaching and helping them.
In April 1997, Alisha had her third birthday. With the coming of spring, the students were restless. Dave and some of the other teachers met privately to discuss what they could do to be more effective with the teenagers to hold their interest. They came up with some good plans and even some games centering around personal choices, helping others and being a power of example. That was successful for a while, as they met every few weeks to change things to keep the classes going. By June Dave had decided he was not going to stay teaching the classes. He was glad he did it as he would have regretted not doing it. He had an opportunity to teach college classes and wanted to take the job. He also looked forward to having his Saturday mornings to himself once again.
On his last day at the church Dave forgot a book Father Murphy had loaned him and called me to ask if I would bring it to him as he didn’t want to leave without giving it back. Alisha was spending the weekend with us, and we got in the car and drove to the church. No one was in the rectory except Dave and the priest. I brought the book in and gave it to Dave. He and the priest were talking, and he introduced us. Alisha was walking around looking at the several blackboards on wheels that were in the room. I was wearing a full skirt and a summer top. Alisha was very shy around strangers at that age. Dave was very proud of her and picked her up to introduce her to the Father. She buried her head in Dave’s neck and looked away. Dave put her down and she ran behind me for a minute before looking around again. When Dave and Father Murphy finished their conversation, they shook hands and wished each other well. Father Murphy called out to Alisha, blowing her a kiss and calling her sweetheart. Alisha ran to me, grabbed my skirt, hiding in the folds of it, sticking her head out and yelling out to the Priest in a voice I didn’t know she had, “I NOT YOUR SWEETHEART!!” She grabbed my hand, pulling me outside, the three of us adults unable to keep a straight face.
Once we got home, Dave picked Alisha up and asked her what she wanted to do and she said, swim. She was in her bathing suit and beach jacket before Dave could change into his trunks so we could go to Stetson Pond. Alisha is now full-grown and happily married with a young daughter of her own – who also speaks her mind.