I've always heard lightning never strikes twice in the same place. But maybe it strikes twice on the same date.
Regina and I married in August of 1986. Three years later, in the summer of 1989, we received the joyous news that Regina was expecting. The last half of that year was a blur as we barreled toward an early March due date. On a pleasant Sunday afternoon, we made the journey to Northside Hospital in Atlanta, a place often referred to as The Baby Factory because of the number of little ones delivered there each year.
The next morning, at 4:23 a.m., Regina delivered Mr. Miles Arthur Flanders. The date was March 5, 1990. We were instantly in love with him, and our world, as you would expect, changed dramatically.
It just got more and more fun. We could hold him for hours just watching his tiny chest rise and fall as he slept. In a few months he smiled at us (I refuse to believe it was just a gas bubble as many told us). Then, it was laughter and babbling, followed by crawling and standing, and before we knew it, he was walking and talking. This little creature had a personality and each day became an adventure.
In the summer of 1992, the little test kit indicated that another was on the way. A doctor confirmed it, and he informed us that the due date would again be in early March. Saint Luke says it so beautifully of Mary in the old King James Version - the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. Meaning it was time, and Baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Likewise, Regina's days were accomplished and back to Northside we went on a Friday morning. My beloved's were very accomplished, evidenced by Mr. Cole Jordan Flanders showing up less than an hour after we arrived at the hospital. Yippee!! We've got two kids, two sons, and that's more than double the fun!
Did I mention that the date was March 5, 1993? Lightning struck twice for us on the same date - three years, four hours, and thirty-nine minutes apart. Twins three years apart, we sometimes call them. It's really my favorite day of the year because so many of our blessings flow directly from those two little boys who have grown up to be extraordinary young men.
So, I wish our boys the happiest of birthdays today. I thank Regina not only for carrying them and delivering them, but for being the very best Mother they could have ever asked for. And most of all, I thank God, the One from whom "every good and perfect gift comes." I am so richly and wonderfully blessed.
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