As many of you know, our journey to have a baby has been anything but easy. We experienced 3 horrible losses in the span of a year and a half that were all related to the babies having chromosomal issues. We were tested for what feels like a thousand different things to find what could be causing our losses, met with specialists in Cincinnati to talk about our options (which included either a) keep trying naturally or the extreme opposite option b) do IVF with pre-genetic screening), and have just been on an overall terrible rollercoaster of the some of the highest highs and lowest lows you can face in life. After our 3rd loss, we were undecided about whether or not we would try again and risk another loss, or do an almost sure (but insanely expensive) thing and do IVF. Around that time, we decided to start house hunting. We had been talking about it for over a year, but it finally felt like the right time. And we needed a change.
Enter: Melody. (Last name not being shared for privacy purposes.) Melody was our realtor who was recommended to us by a loan officer whose number Chuck found randomly on Zillow. The loan officer told Chuck this woman specialized in finding East End homes (which is primarily where we were looking) and that she'd be great for us. Soon after, we met Melody and she was great. She is an older woman, very experienced, very honest and straight forward and VERY Christian. We got close with Melody fast and we shared our pregnancy struggles with her as we had just experienced our 3rd loss right before we bought the house. She asked our permission to share our struggles with her Bible study and some of her other friends so they could all be praying for us and of course we said we didn't mind.
It didn't take us too long to find a house, and when we did it was a partially unfinished new build that still needed some finishing touches. For everything the house still needed, landscaping, blinds, mirrors, whatever, Melody would tell us "oh I have a guy for that. I'll give you his number." Melody seemingly had a guy for everything.
Enter: Charlie Bob. (I'd like to note here that I am not leaving off his last name to protect his privacy or identity. I actually don't know his last name and now I'm thinking he may not have one, like Madonna.) Charlie Bob was Melody's "blinds guy." While we were under contract, Melody would constantly tell us, "Go to Lowe's. Ask for Charlie Bob. Tell him you're a friend of Melody's. He will take care of you." Whenever we talked she would ask me at the end of our conversation, "have you called Charlie Bob yet?" Finally, one Saturday, Chuck and I went to Lowe's and looked for Charlie Bob. We found an employee and asked about him and his response was "Ummmm, Charlie Bob hasn't worked in here in FOREVER...." I texted Melody. She responded "Oh! Ok well here is his cell number. Just call him. He'll take care of you." She always added that part at the end.
I finally called Charlie Bob and set up a time for him to come measure our windows and tell us what kind of blinds he recommended we buy. On the day he came to the house, Chuck wasn't home yet so I met with him alone and walked him from room to room making a plan. Charlie Bob was an elderly man in very worn overalls with the sweetest, realest, country accent. He told me his life story about growing up in Western Kentucky and how he knew Melody as a teenager and how he and his wife raised their kids in a small home in Indiana and moved several years ago to St. Matthews to be closer to their kids and grandkids. We talked as we went from room to room and he wrote down measurements, starting with our first spare bedroom that we use currently as an office.
When we got to the 2nd spare bedroom, he asked me "Now what should I label this room?" I casually said "well, you can just call it the 2nd bedroom I guess. We're hoping we will have a baby someday and this will be the nursery." As soon as I said it, Charlie Bob stopped in his tracks as he was lifting his measuring tape to the window, turned around and looked me square in the face, deep into my SOUL, and said "Oh. You WILL. I'm writing Baby's Room." Then he turned around and continued measuring. And he did write Baby BR. (See pic below for evidence.)
In that moment I had major chills. He said "oh you WILL" SO confidently and so sure, almost like he knew something I didn't. Obviously our friends and family and doctors had all said this to us at some point, but something about the way this stranger said it to me felt different. I thought about it for the rest of the day, and told Chuck about it pretty much the minute he got home. He agreed it was kind of eerie and wasn't sure why he would have said that so confidently, or even at all.
Charlie Bob came back a few weeks later and installed our blinds during a work day, so my mother-in-law met him at the house for us and hung out while he put all the blinds up. He texted me the next day to see if we liked his work and after that interaction, we never saw him or talked to him again.
Ok. Ready for the part that makes the story? I found out I was pregnant a week later.
Now, I'm not claiming an immaculate conception or anything because we obviously know how we got pregnant. But for two years we tried to have a healthy baby and couldn't, and then suddenly Charlie Bob shows up at our house and BAM. Without doing anything different than what we've been doing, we are blessed with a chromosomally, as far as we know from tests we've done so far, healthy baby.
So that is the story of the magical Charlie Bob. Chuck and I are convinced that Charlie Bob is our Clarence (from It's a Wonderful Life.) We're convinced if we tried calling him again, his number would be disconnected. We're convinced that Melody has a direct line to God, that she asked him to send us help, and He did. He sent us our guardian angel, who apparently is an older man named Charlie Bob who wears overalls and does a seriously great job hanging blinds.
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