Annunciation - Stephanie Paulsell
Another essay pattern emerges (for me, the newcomer, that is.) Let's call it the pregnancy chronicle, the gestation essay, the reproductive memoir, the journal of fecundity. Similar to the cancer narratives, these essays can cover the full spectrum of emotion, from deep sadness to unbridled joy.
Stephanie Paulsell's story of her and her husband's apprehension at building a family and the trials they go through once they make the decision is told with overt spirituality. (This is my second Catholic essay in a row.) This is religious experience without proselytization. This essay describes faith with its concomitant doubt.
I couldn't help but be moved by this story. You want to hug these people, sometimes smack them. We all have situations like this in our lives, where the worst possibility occurs, or so we believe, yet it opens opportunities for growth, for something new, something unexpected. There are many paths to joy, sometimes we recognize them and sometimes we have to be pushed there. Sometimes we have to be reassured that it is okay to hope.
It is okay to hope. It is the ultimate sin to despair.
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