Rock-a-bye baby

Most of us grew up either having lullabies sung to us, or singing them to our children.  One that I sang to my boys was "Tu ra lu ra lu ra...tu ra lu ra li...tur ra lu ra lu ra...hush now don't you cry.  Then repeat the tu ra lu ra stuff and end by singing "tis the Irish lullably." 


Another one that I sang to the boys was "Hush little baby don't say a word...Mama's gonna buy you a Mocking Bird."


Then, of course, there is the infamous "Rock Abye Baby."    The only problem with that one is that the baby doesn't come to a good end!

My Mother sang all of these wonderful songs to me but she didn't rock me.  All of my life my Mother  suffered with extreme Vertigo.  One thing she could not handle was rocking.  She had a rocking chair that she sat in, but she didn't rock.

One day she told me she was going to the hospital to see my little cousin who had had surgery.  Her spine was crooked and back then they did this surgery where they broke both legs and put a cast on up to the waist.   This was supposed to take care of the problem.  It was a horrible surgery and it was weeks before the cast was taken off.  

My cousin was at Children's Hospital in Knoxville.  When Mother came home she told me about a little baby who was in the hospital with Spina Bifida.  When Mother walked by her room she was in a crib all by herself.  Mother asked about her and the nurse said that the little girl's Mother had brought her there and left her.  The Mother never came to see her.

After that encounter, my Mother started going to the hospital on a regular basis to rock this little girl who had no one.  I said, "but Mother...surely you don't actually rock!"  She said that yes...amazingly  the Lord had released her from the vertigo just for that short period of time.  

One day my Mother went to the hospital to rock the little girl and she was gone.  She had died and gone to be with Jesus during the night.  

A sad story?  I don't think so!  I can still see that little girl curled up in my Mother's lap while Mother sang a lullaby and rocked her.