HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LUCY

One month ago today, a baby lamb was born. While her mother was lost in childbirth, she was not forsaken. My friends Linda and Johnnie (see my 3/8/12 post "I Love Lucy) kept her alive by finding the bottle and formula she would take and settling her into a feeding routine to replicate that which her own Mommy would have followed. They gave her life; they gave her a name; and Lucy is now very much a part of our extended family.

Many of our friends have asked how Lucy has fared since her somewhat tumultuous arrival at the Smith ranch. I am pleased to report that she has gone through many, many bottles of feed, and that Linda and Johnnie have successfully drawn her through the most tenuous weeks of risk to the point where she is just beginning to wean and graze on their lush pasture. Lucy will eventually join the herd and see her life's first chapter as a mere memory. But we who have watched her progress will never forget what that chapter has taught us.

Linda and Johnnie have been faithful servants in this stewardship, and have honored their commitment to see Lucy through to full health. Not surprisingly, they have altered their entire lifestyle to suit this three-times-a-day task, but as with so many other extensions of their love, have never seen this as a chore. Linda wears the same sweatsuit over her clothes with every feeding, and insists that Lucy has established a bond of trust because she smells "her Mommy" (actually, Linda's scent attracts Lucy away from the herd when Linda is within 50 yards, and Lucy begins her "Baa" of recognition and welcome). Cleverly, these surrogate parents planned from the first few weeks of Lucy's life to turn her back to the herd after feeding. They sought out and found another new mother who would take Lucy under her wing, and now that mother and her own baby wait respectfully while Lucy feeds with Linda, then they usher her back protectively into the larger family of sheep. It is a miracle to watch how this plays out... and the result of the tenacity of two friends unwilling to treat this tiny life as anything but the precious gift she has been.

When on a golf date or errand run, Linda and Johnnie watch the time and tell others that "Lucy needs to be fed." (In this "it takes a village" society, golf pals and store clerks sometimes think they are attending to grandkids, but I suppose they're not exactly wrong. Lucy is as grand as grand ever could be, and she sees herself as much as their kid as do their own flesh and blood).

We have been blessed as our family has enjoyed joining the fun of an occasional visit to feed and watch Lucy. As a late Spring unfolds, blossoms surround us today and foretell Lucy's coming of age. Soon she will not need Linda's bottle or Johnnie's protection. Whether she will remember her bumpy beginning is impossible to tell, but one thing is for sure... we who have come to love her will all be left with the indelible picture of loving hands and hearts that kept one life from being lost, and the lasting memory that love's truth is something we can both learn from and live.