When the World Fell Silent

by Donna Jones Alward

I refused to believe that anyone was beyond help. At the same time, I was beginning to understand that if they believed they were, nothing I did would change it.

Canadian Army Medical Corps to do my part as a nurse—a Bluebird, named after the blue-and-white uniforms we wore.

Everybody seemed to be making the most of the time they had; time was the one thing that no longer seemed guaranteed.

the reason you have eyes in the front of your head was to look to the future, not the past.

Men could do what they wanted. They didn’t have to fight for the right to work and vote or even be considered an actual person in the eyes of the law. And men weren’t the ones to “get in trouble” and face hardship and social censure when a baby came along, even though they bore half the responsibility.

I’d just straightened when the world fell silent, then a rumble shuddered beneath my feet and a terrible force pressed on my body, the blunt punch of it delivering me into blackness.

Because I’d come to the startling realization that the child sleeping on my bed at this moment was not my daughter.

I’d thought love meant settling and perhaps even boredom, but the reality was so different. It was kindness and patience and steadfastness. It was knowing what the other person needed and doing it with a glad heart, not for any sort of reward other than love itself.

Fun was a rather fragile, transient concept on which to base a relationship or way of life. It didn’t last.

“I thought I understood what love was, but now I know what it’s not. It’s not being swept off my feet and romanced, not about being reckless. It’s about being with someone who sees you at your worst and loves you anyway. Who knows what you need and gives it unreservedly.”

You and the children are what makes this home.

Choice was not a thing many women had, I realized.

But God willing, we’ll use what we learned over the past year to deal with it. And we’ll get through. We just have to hold onto each other.”