Spent the weekend up in NH at an annual retreat at Squam Lake with my wife’s family. For the third consecutive year, we had perfect weather. Watching our two boys interact and laugh with their three cousins was pretty special.
One stunning story came out of the weekend that I must share. In high school, there was this fellow named J.J. Sappet. He was two years ahead of me and I didn’t know him well. I knew who he was, that’s about it. One thing about the guy, though, was that he was always smiling. Always happy. After high school, I pretty much forgot about him and probably vice versa. A few months ago I heard he had gotten pancreatic cancer at 38. He died this past July. Tragic.
Fast forward to this weekend. My wife’s sister (who was in the same class as Sappet) told us that about eight weeks after J.J. died, his wife Liz called 911 and went into the hospital with severe abdominal pains. She came out of the hospital 2 days later with John James Sappet the 4th. She didn’t know she was pregnant. He never knew. It’s a stunning and beautiful story.
A conversation ensued – how can you not know you are pregnant until you go into labor? There’s a few possible reasons and at the top of the list was the obvious – she was so focused on what was going on with her husband and caring for him that it very well could have deflected anything else going on physically with her. It seems far-fetched, but then again, most of us have never gone through such a thing.
Amazing. A blog dedicated to Sappet can be found here.