A Miracle, a Wedding, and a Baby

A Real Fairy Tale

Photo 1995 of our two children: Natalie twenty-four years old and William three-months old

After being widowed and homeless, at the age of twenty-six, with a five-year-old daughter, Natalie, I at last remarried and had the family I had prayed for. I was proud to be the wife of such an important, wonderful man, whose business obligations, at last, began to settle down. Earlier in our marriage, I’d had a strong desire for another child, but knew Bill had no interest, which he’d been frank about from the beginning, explaining that it was in part because of his frequent travel. I honored and respected his wishes and accepted the situation, which I left in God’s hands.

We were happy and grateful for what we had, and were growing together as a family, and glad to have my daughter Natalie to care for and raise. She went through the usual teenage turmoil as most teenagers do. It wasn’t always easy, but I learned that life involves conflict at one time or another, and dealing with a teenager is no exception. Her issues were yet another opportunity to go within for prayer and reflection. I didn’t wish to interfere where I thought I shouldn’t, remembering who was guiding me.

Natalie grew up into a splendid young woman, and she met a most wonderful man‒for which I say, Thank you, God, for doing this for us, because we believed in you more than we believed in fear, or in the appearance of suffering or lack.

One day, as we were planning Natalie’s wedding, Bill unexpectedly said how sorry he was that he didn’t have children of his own. His brother, Bob, who was eleven years younger, was going to be a father, and this made Bill feel pangs of regret. My heart leaped for joy, not only for my in-laws, but also on hearing this wonderful change of heart on Bill’s part, after ten years of marriage. I told him that we could still have a baby if he really wanted one, and he asked if we weren’t already too old: he was about to turn fifty and I was forty-five. I explained that I may have been forty-five, but that I also felt prepared and was in perfect health. I could scarcely believe Bill was talking about this with my daughter’s wedding day approaching while I was already feeling the empty nest syndrome.

Concerned about not being a proper grandparent for my future grandchildren, I asked Natalie if she and Sean, her fiancé, had decided to have children right away. She explained that she loved her job and didn’t plan to start a family for at least another five years, particularly because her work involved frequent travel to other parts of the world, and she wasn’t ready to settle down yet or to take time out from her career.

I felt healthy enough to have another baby, having been healed of a thyroid condition with sound medical attention, and by focusing on Emmet Fox’s advice to balance our glands by balancing all of our thoughts and emotions. I’d learned to take notice of what caused me to have an adrenaline rush, often over some minor issue, and I learned to cultivate right feelings about each thing that had stirred me up. By making these small changes, with the help of my wonderful doctor, Dr. Steven Rosenberg, and of course, through reading and prayer, my health was restored and has remained strong in the twenty years since.

Assured that Natalie wouldn’t be upset if I became pregnant, I asked my doctor, if I was healthy enough to have a child at my age, and if it would be wise to do so. He said he thought it not only wise, but wonderful.

I remembered that any negative thought that arose no longer applied; and that those thoughts were merely leftover conditioning ideas from the past. Any time a negative thought did come up about my age, or the possibility of having a child born with special needs, I was able to root them out through prayer. The moment we make our decisions everything to the contrary will show up to challenge us.

In less than a year, I became pregnant without a problem or any medical assistance. Then, I gave birth to William, a healthy baby boy, fulfilling my deepest heart’s desire from ten years earlier, through gratitude, patience, and trust. I thought-Wow!- We can give our baby all those things I couldn’t give Natalie. And I could be a full-time mom this time because Bill’s business was very successful by this point, and being able to stay home with my child was my greatest dream come true. My silent prayer of “Thy will be done” was answered at the perfect time to benefit our family.

I felt it was a miracle for me to become pregnant naturally and give birth at the age of forty-six. I believe that my patience, love, compassion, and consideration for others, putting their needs first, brought me my heart’s desire. By choosing to be grateful for the blessings already in my life, without allowing myself to focus on feelings of loss over not having another baby. I trusted in God’s timing, in my daughter’s family planning, and in my husband’s wishes, and this brought us the gift of life and expanded our family, just as I had always hoped for in my heart. (Excerpt from Imprinted Wisdom)

Photo 2013 of our family today. Top row from left to right: Grandson Christian, daughter Natalie, me, son William, husband Bill. Bottom: Son-in-law Sean, and granddaughter Angelina

About Catherine Nagle: Catherine grew up in Philadelphia with 16 brothers and sisters, reared by loving, old-school Italian parents. Catherine’s artist father’s works graced churches and public buildings; her mother was a full-time homemaker. A professional hairdresser, Catherine worked in various salons while studying the Bible and pursuing spiritual growth through courses, seminars, lectures, the works of Marianne Williamson, and through conferences, including the National Theology of the Body Congress.

She is an Ambassador of the Society of Emotional Intelligence and a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post and Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global. The mother of two children, and now a grandmother, Catherine lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and son. She is the author of Imprinted Wisdom and Absence and Presence and a contributor to Anne Born’s These Winter Months: The Late Orphan Project Anthology.

Follow Catherine Nagle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cath4608

Catherine Nagle Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Homemaker, Writer, Author

Originally published at www.huffingtonpost.com on July 13, 2014.