Because I Can

“I’m doing this because I can!” -  Mary Halverson

Because I can

It was deep into the night, about 2 am.  It was a long awaited, anticipated event and it was unfolding right before my eyes.  I was standing right next to my friend, Merrill Godfrey.  We were both dawning sky-blue surgical smocks.  He, an Obstetrician, was talking calmly with me as he worked.  We had spent many years living as neighbors and friends and this one event was the capstone to our association.  He was delivering my first child!

Of course, there are lots of things to remember fondly about this amazing and life-enhancing event.  And, I was about to learn many new things about what it means to be a parent.  One of those important lessons came from the caring heart of another friend and almost life-long mentor Mary Halverson.

Mary, the mother of my play & school mates, Scott and Mile Halverson, always welcomed me and the other neighborhood boys into her home.  She was seemingly always there and was the pillar of her family.  Her husband, a good and hard-working man, worked out of town so he wasn’t home as much as he would have liked to be.  So, Mary was almost always in charge.  And, she was also there on the night Jessi was born!  She was the nurse in charge.

Up until that late night, I never knew that she would work all night and then come home to manage her home, raise her boys and give to their friends as well.  She did it all with strength, grace, joy and a giving heart.  And, she did more than I had ever dreamed one person could do.  She was doing it both day and night!

When the sun rose over the hospital and we were getting ready to take our new born home Mary appeared once again.  We gathered our squiggling daughter and our things together. Then, she came to say goodbye and wish us well one last time.  There were hugs all around and then she said, “Oh, there is one more thing!”

That’s when she handed us one more gift.

“You’ve already done so much for us!”  I said in astonishment.  “You don’t need to give this to us!”

That’s when she simply said, “I’m doing this because I can!”

That day was deep into my life, about 27 years.  It was a long awaited, anticipated event and it was unfolding right before my eyes.  I was standing right next to my friend, Mary Halverson.  She was dawning her sky-blue nursing smock.  She, a head nurse, mother and nearly life-long friend, was continuing to teach me about what it means to be a great parent and friend.  We had spent many years living as neighbors and friends and this one event was the capstone to our association.

She taught me that people should give, just because they can!