A Life Not Lived

            As the sun rose up on a beautiful September morning, leaves tumbled around me as I walked outside.  I was pregnant and had been for almost nine months now, time was escaping me.  George Shoeneck, my husband, is working three jobs just to provide for our family.  Day in and day out all I can seem to think about is when I will hold my baby in my arms.  This is my dream that I've been waiting for my whole life, and I was never gonna let it go.
   

Then suddenly one night at eleven o'clock on September 24, 1929 I yelled at my husband and said “Hey! Hurry quick and go and find our doctor!”

    “Yes of course darling”, he spoke as he rushed out the door.

     As I waited longing for him to return, the pain going through my body is something nobody can describe. It radiated through my body as I lay in my room with my bed placed perfectly centered in the room.   Suddenly an hour later at the stroke of midnight George returns alone, without our doctor.  A million thoughts ran through my mind, was I going to make it out of this unharmed? Will my baby be okay? I tried to block out the pain with every blink of my over worked eyes, but the pain was too much. Every contraction came out of nowhere as if I didn't see them coming.  Now they were arriving every five minutes or so and I knew the end was near, I could feel it.

    George angrily spoke “Should I go out for the doctor one last time?”

    Quickly I agreed, “Yes,” speaking with pain in my voice.
   

Sweat dripped down my face as one o'clock chimed on the clock, time was flying by.   A new day had dawned and that day was September 25, 1929.  This day I would soon come to find out to be one of the best days of my twenty-eight years of life, so I thought.

    He returned this last time with a very skinny blond lady about the age of fifty-five, I could smell the scent of smoke most likely from a cigar.   I felt a surge or relief run throughout my body and I began to feel sick, the pain was causing me to feel nauseous.  Now it was nearing three o'clock and the contractions became more and more intense with every tick of the clock.  They were now coming fast at bout four minutes apart to be exact.  In my mind there was still time for a doctor to arrive, but apparently I could be wrong. The blond, Glenda, encouraged me to rest, but who can rest with all the pain that my fragile body was enduring.

“I’m going to take a quick nap,” stated Glenda.

I turned toward her, “Don’t worry about me,” I spoke with very little tone in my voice.

The time rolled around and the pain began to reach its climax.  My stomach felt like it had been stepped on by a two ton elephant who was playing hop scotch.  Finally the contractions were a minute apart and it was time for my baby to arrive.  So at seven a.m. on September 25, 1929 my beautiful baby girl was born.  My hopes and dreams finally adding up, until I noticed that my baby never let out a cry.  I glanced over to where Glenda was holding her and she looked as blue as a blueberry, this was not normal and I panicked.  George rushed away from me to see if there was any sign of something that could be blocking her airways, but there was nothing, she was still born. George covered his mouth and tears began to trickle down his cheeks.  As Glenda realized what had just occurred she rushed into town and got the doctor.  While she was away I lifted my head and spoke to the heavens, “Why did my newborn baby have to die and I got to live?”

    I sat there and began to cry as I held my beautiful dead baby girl in my arms.  She appeared so gentle and weak, as I moved her body closer to mine.  The doctor finally arrived and examined me and told me that everything was going to be okay, when I knew it wasn't.  Then he ran over and looked at my baby, and placed a small white sheet over her tiny body.  Hours passed and I began to feel faint, “why do the good always die young?”, I asked.  This ran through my mind for the rest of that afternoon.  As the sun went down the sunset was gorgeous, prettier than usual with shades of brilliant blue and pink and orange surrounding the horizon. It seemed  that was my baby's way of speaking to me from heaven.

    When I think of life I always picture getting married, having a few kids, raising them, seeing them get married, and on a more depressing note burying my parents as they passed away.  Never did I imagine in my future that me, Rebbecca Shoeneck would have to bury her own child, it wasn't supposed to turn out this way.  That very next day the local priest came out to the graveyard and blessed us while we dug a hole for our daughter to be buried in.  On her tombstone we put her name Isabelle Marie Shoeneck in enormous letters.  Then a quote that my husband and I will never forget, "I felt you but never met you, held you but never knew you, but all that matters is I love you."   

    “What do we do now?”, I asked my husband.
   
    “Let’s just enjoy everyday without weeping and becoming depressed”, he told me so I can feel encouraged.

With a heavy heart I watched as her body was covered with loads of dirt piled in many layer atop her body.  On this day I will never ever forget how marvelous the sky looked, it was perfect.  It was as clear as the ocean and that's just how she wold have wanted to show her life not lived.

Compare/Contrast Folklore

         There are types of folklore in just about every place on earth such as Canada, Mexico, the United States and many more places.  All of these types of folklore have things that are alike and different about them.  Canadian, Mexican, and Latin American folklore all have their fair share of things that they have in common and things that they don’t.  They may have the same settings, themes, or even characters or they may differ in these areas.
         
         
         In the country of Canada, located in extreme North America, they use very many interesting stories of folklore.  I found that the Bloody Knife was quite an interesting story of two warriors who get into a huge knife fight.  This story is taken place outdoors in the woods near a creek or river that runs through the forest.  Also in the story there are two warriors who show that they are very strong willed and tough guys.  They begin to start and argument and exchange harsh words showing that they are wild.  Also there is a group of people that represent each warrior who show up after the knife fight.  Every story has a message that it sends out for us to catch and use in our everyday lives.  The messages this story gives out are that violence is never the answer, and  to treat others the way you wish to be treated.  Another message is an eye for and eye and a ear for an ear, which means that if one man dies then the other should too.

     
         Latin America has different values and also different folklore stories from the United States, this is what makes different cultures great.  In the story Armadillo’s Song from Latin American folklore its very different from the story the Bloody Knife, this story has talking animals as characters.  This story is taken place outdoors in a swamp type cartoon scene with woods and leaves and all sorts of different people.  A frog is the main character in this story and he desires to sing since he loves music more than anything.  On his journey to sing a family of crickets tell him that it’s impossible, and then the family of canaries do the same.  Then one glad day a wizard appears to grant the frog his wish with his magical powers and tricky wishes.  The lesson that this folklore teaches is that you should never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.  Another lesson that is presented in this wonderful story is that you should never listen to what other people say is impossible.  So like the Bloody Knife they both take place outdoors and contain one human figure in the stories.


        In Central America, Mexico, has many great folklore stories that they tell to people.  I found that the story known as the Eavesdropper very fun and a cute story.  This story contains a farm with an old farmer and a farmhouse with lots of animals surrounding the place.  This story takes place during an unknown time probably during the early 1900s.  The characters in this book are mostly animals the main characters are a group of cattle that are believed to talk.  Another character is an old curious Maryland man who is sneaky and decides to hide out and eavesdrop on the cows.  The message that is sent out to the readers in this story that you should keep yourself out of everyone else's business and to worry about yourself and only you.


         These different cultures all share things that are in common like in every story someone dies and they all take place in an outdoor scene.  They also are all different which would explain that different cultures have different types of folklore.  So these stories no matter what country created them or what they are about they all share things that are common and differ in things  that make them their own individual story.