A voice from the dust

I heard my grandmother's voice tonight for the first time. My mother sent over a recording on a USB stick. In which her mother spoke her autobiography. It was an eerie experience. I was not sure what to expect. Whose voice would I hear? Would I recognize my mother's voice in her mother's voice?

The quality of the recording - made prior to 1969 - the year of her death, was not great. Some moments were clearer than others. And, I could recognize my mother's voice and my aunts' voices in their mother's voice. She sounded very tired, so I am guessing it was near the end of her life.

Then the unexpected occurred - in the first story she told. I heard an amazing story about my grandmother's life that I did not remember, or had not heard.

She started at the beginning of her life on this earth, which occurred in the early 1900's.

She said she was born with the umbilical cord around her neck and did not scream directly after birth. The doctor was concerned and felt she would not live to see another day. Her parents named her and blessed her, while life was still in her, and presumably planned for the worse. But then, her grandmother, my great, great grandmother Ballard, began administering mouth to mouth, striving to save the young baby's life. It worked. Grandma Ballard heard a faint gasp for air and informed the doctor. The doctor began trying to help the child breath. It worked.

I was astonished and amazed at this beginning to my grandmother's life. I contemplated the events that take place to bring a person to their current situation in life. The fact that I was born to my father and mother at this time in the world at all is a miracle of epic proportions. I cannot name all the events that transpired to bring me to this place today, but I just discovered yet another amazing event that led to my life on earth.