Labor Announcement?

[Birth & Babies - X]

Pregnancy announcements are fun. They are often creative. I remember the one that was a picture of flip-flops lined up at the beach. The sandals were in descending sizes, one for each member of the family. Dad’s, the largest, were on the left, all the way to the the toddler’s little flip-flops on the right. And then an extra pair of super small infant sandals where added to the end for the future baby.

Birth announcements are more common. Some are creative, but most are pretty straight forward. Maybe it’s a picture of the whole family cuddling the newborn, or perhaps just a shot of the little one curled up in soft blankets.

These announcements are celebratory bookends to an important chapter in life. Labor, on the other hand, is one page among many difficult pages along the way.

I’ve never received a labor announcement. Labor is not the bookend to anything. It’s maybe the beginning of the end, but it’s not public, and it’s never celebrated.

Most of life is labor—the hard but necessary work of moving forward, getting us to our goals . . . and not worth making an announcement about.

It’s no less sacred.
It’s no less important.
It’s merely the work we put in, knowing the real gift is around the corner.

We don’t need to fabricate a celebratory announcement for this work. But we do need reminders that it is necessary and good and purposeful work to get us where we are going.

People like us that are unwilling to continue with the way things are need these reminder. Who in your life reminds you that your work is good—to carry on, to persevere, to strive, to push? They, too, will throw the biggest celebration when you announce the birth.