Emma's baptism

Emma, our pastor's newborn daughter, was baptized last night at 6 p.m. Another pastor was one of her sponsers. He was there with his wife and they are newlyweds. How could it help but take me back--young pastors, new wives and Emma at the very beginning of her life? I felt strongly compelled to tell our pastor's wife about the similarities between my life and hers. We had both given birth to firstborn sons in May. We had both gone with our husband to tiny towns to live while they began a ministry at two small churches. And our second children, daughters, were both born on August 20th. She made the remark that it was almost scary....Scary for me to realize that life has moved right along. That the time for making a young man happy and for being the center of a child's life is gone forever. Scary for her to wonder, is this what all my struggles will come to, an old woman sitting at the back of the room? I'm on page 400 of the book. It has a quote from Emerson. "But when you have chosen your part, abide by it and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world."