Meine Erster Loebfel

When I was a teenager, I went on a trip to Europe with the Pennsylvania Ambassadors of Music. We went to Switzerland and I stopped into a local Swiss Army Knife shop. The owner was a friendly little old man and he chatted with me in broken English. I bought a little blue Swiss Army Knife and he gave me a free baby spoon. It said, "My First Spoon" in German and had little animals etched into it. He told me to use this for my baby when s/he is born some day. I promised him I would and I've always planned on doing just that.

Then I lost it. I was upset and looked for it several times over the years. When Frank and I fell in love and started talking about children, I started thinking of that baby spoon. I really wanted it to be my baby's first spoon, just like I promised that sweet old man. As we got engaged, then bought a house, then married, I started to get a little panicked that I'd never find it. On a trip to Frederick, MD with Julie, I stopped into a baby boutique and saw a silver baby spoon that said "Bambino" which is what Frank and I call kids so I figured it was suitable replacement for Meine Erster Loebfel. I brought it home and put it in my hope chest along with a couple other things I had been buying for when I became pregnant.

Then, one day this summer, I was helping my Mom (Doodle's Granny) clean out her garage. We got all of my old things out and decided what to keep and what to give to charity. I told her, again, that I was looking for Meine Erster Loebfel. No sooner did I tell her to keep an eye open than she reached into a box and pulled out a little plastic bag with a tiny silver spoon in it. It was the spoon the little old Swiss man had given me!! I remember right where I was when she handed it to me - squatting down in the back of our green Tundra, rearranging boxes to take to Goodwill. I was so happy, I started to sob a little. Mom said, "This is a sign." I thought so, too.

And it was!! One month later, I found out that G-d blessed me with the beautiful miracle of my first son!