In Heaven, a special child waits her turn to join her special mother in love.

There's a place in heaven, or perhaps just this side of heaven, that is known by those who inhabit it as the "Waiting Room". Within this room, souls in the form of babies, anxiously await their opportunity to be born into the human world below. Angels walk among the countless babies, smiling and caring for them until it is time for the baby to began "its" life. The babies are referred to as "its" because their sex, and most of their physical characteristics aren't determined until they are placed within their birth mother. They all appear very much the same. It is the uniqueness of their souls that set them apart.

When the time arrives to deliver the baby to its mother, the angel will come to the selected baby, pick it up and tell them, "It's time." The angel will kiss the baby's forehead and then they will both fade from view as the angel delivers the baby to its waiting mother and new life below.

Every baby's eyes were trained on the angels that moved among them. Thousands of different babies, all with the same single thought. "Pick me! Pick me!" Well...ALMOST all of the babies that is. One baby stood by the huge window that peered down to the Earth below. That baby gazed downward, oblivious to the selection process behind it.

The baby sitting nearest to the one staring out the window, smiled brightly at the angel that stopped near it, but the smile quickly left as the angel picked up the baby next to it and then faded away from view. Obviously dejected, the baby turned around to find the lone baby standing at the window. Curious, the baby walked over to see what had captivated the attention of the other.

"Hey what ya looking at?"

The baby at the window smiled, but did not turn to face its friend when it answered. "My momma"

The baby who had walked over eyed its curious new friend suspiciously. "You don't got no momma! You don't get a momma until the angels take you to her. Every baby knows that."

The baby at the window now turned to face the one who had called it a liar. It's blue-gray eyes; the same color as every other baby there, flashed with hurt and anger.

"I DO TOO have a momma and I can see her down on Earth."

The second baby still wasn't convinced. "Oh yeah! Well, how come no other Baby up here has a momma? What makes you so special?"

The first baby held up its wrist, pointing to a pink bracelet wrapped around it. "THIS is what makes me special. My momma gave it to me when I was sleeping. Have YOU ever seen any other baby have one of these?"

The second baby was dumbfounded. Its own blue-gray eyes stared at the bracelet in amazement. It shook its head back and forth. "I ain't never seen a baby with that before. What is it?"

The first baby smiled proudly as it spoke. "It's my preserved tag!"

The second baby examined the tiny bracelet and shrugged its shoulders. "What's a preserved tag?"

The "tagged" baby ran its tiny fingers lovingly over the pink bracelet. "It's something that tells all the angels that they can't give me to nobody else, cause my momma done already "preserved" me special to be her baby."

The first baby raised it arm and pointed to the inscription on its bracelet. "See that? Do you know what it says?"

The other baby shook its head from side to side, signaling it didn't know.

The first baby smiled proudly again. "I do! I can read it to you. It says, "This baby belongs to Sarah, and nobody else can have it."

The second baby regarded the first baby's words and a few thoughts came to mind. That baby immediately shared them with the other. "Hey, how do you know which momma down there is Sarah? You said she came while you were sleeping and that means you didn't get to see her. AND, how do you know what the tag says, cause everybody knows babies can't read?"

The first baby took a deep sigh. "Okay, I can't really read it, but I know what it says, just like I know which momma is Sarah. She TOLD me!"

The second baby went wide-eyed again. "Wow, you must REALLY be special then. Your momma talks to you and you aren't even in her belly yet. How can she do that?"

The first baby sighed heavily. "You sure asks lots of questions! Well...I don't know how she does everything, but I know that my momma is a real special. She ain't hardly like no other momma's nowhere and she gotted a special gift from God and that's kinda why she gotted to come choose me and can talk to me.

Having a special gift from God seemed like an acceptable explanation to the second baby, and finally it was convinced the first was telling the truth. "What does she say when she talks to ya?"

She told me all about when she was a little and how she used to play dolls and dress-up with her sister. She tolded me about how she knew she was a special girl even when she was little and nobody knowed cept her sister. Sometimes she tells me sad things cause when you is special like my momma, sometimes you get all sad cause you wished you weren't special. You wished you was just like other girls. And sometimes she tells me about her life today and sometimes she tells me about how things are going to be after I get borned. And things is gonna be real happy then."

The other baby was absolutely mesmerized by the first's tale. "That is so cool! Has your momma ever told you what you're going to look like?"

The first baby flashed another smile. "Yep, yep! She's told me about that lots of times. She says I am going to be real pretty, just like her. I'm going to have auburn hair and big green eyes just like her and momma says I'm going to be a girl which means that someday I will get to be a mommy too!"

The second baby smiled happily. "Is you gonna be a special girl just like your momma?"

The first baby shook its head back and forth. "No...momma sez she don't want me to be that kind of special cause it's real hard to be like that. She said I gonna be kinda like other little girls, but I will always be special to her!"

The first baby looked from side to side, making sure they weren't being overheard and then added something else.

"I even know my real name!"

The second baby could no longer contain its excitement and shouted loudly. "You know your real name?"

The first baby placed its hand over the mouth of the second, and then shot a quick glance over to the group of babies closest to them. Luckily, an angel was passing by and all attention was on her. The first baby let out a sigh of relief and gave its friend a stern look. Putting a finger to its lips, it signaled the other baby to be quiet.

"Shhhhh...you promised not to tell nobody."

The second baby dropped its head. "I'm sorry. I kinda got excited. No baby up here knows its real name. I'd give anything to know mine."

The first baby could understand its friend's excitement. "It's okay, nobody heard us. So...do you want to hear my name?"

The second baby grinned impishly. "Sure!"

The first baby took a deep breath and spoke. "My real name is Molly. Do you like it? I really like it."

The second baby thought about it and then nodded in agreement. "Yeah I like that name. I never seen a Molly before, but I bet you're going to look just like one."

"Thanks, I hope so. My momma said she named me Molly cause when she was real little she had a secret dolly she played with and its name was Molly. She used to play pretend it was her baby so she named me after her."

The second baby smiled and then looked over toward the window where she had first found the other. "Can you show me your momma from the window? I'd really like to see her. I bet she is SO beautiful."

The first baby took the hand of the second and whispered quietly. "My momma is so beautiful but you gotta member something. I tolded you my momma is special, real special. She's kinda like other girls only different."

The second baby frowned slightly. "I knowed she is all special, but how come she is so special?"

The first baby looked from side to side to be absolutely sure no angels or other babies could hear them. "Okay I will tell ya and I will show ya, but you gotta promise you won't never tell no one cause it's a secret and I will get in trouble for tellin. You gotta promise to believe me and not to tell nobody for as long as you is in the waiting room. I know you won't tell nobody nothin when you get taken to your momma cause you don't member nothing when you is borned. So...you gonna promise me?"

The second baby grew wide-eyed and put its little hand over its heart and promised solemnly to tell no one. The first baby convinced of the second's sincerity agreed to share its secret.

The two babies scampered to the window, and the first began searching through the crowded images below. It stopped for a moment and frowned slightly as it was obviously deep in thought. Turning back to face its friend it began sharing the secret. "I think I better show you a picture of my momma when she was little, so you can see why she is so special. Member what I said, you gotta believe me no matter what you see and no matter what I tells ya."

The second baby nodded and continued focusing its attention on the mass of images below the window. The first baby waved its hand and all the images cleared away but one. Two little kids were sitting in a bedroom playing with dolls. The second baby smiled when it looked at the little girl in the pretty dress. "Your momma is real pretty just like you said, but I don't see why she is so special."

The first baby shook it's head. "No, that ain't my momma! That's my momma's sister. She is gonna be my aunt when I comes, but my momma is the other kid playing with her."

The second baby regarded the other child. It's eyes grew wide and a frown turned at its mouth. "But that's a boy! Boy's can't be mommas. Every baby knows that boys is daddies and they don't have babies. Momma's do."

The first baby flashed its eyes at the second. "That is too my momma! But now you know why she is all real special. See, my momma only looks like a boy on the outside, but inside she is a girl, and that's why she is so special."

The second baby looked closer at the boy child that was really a girl child. "I guess I believe you, but it sure is hard cause your momma kinda looks a lot like a boy. I don't think I would like being that kinda special at all."

The first baby nodded knowingly. "I know it's kinda hard to tell. That's otay cause when my momma tolded her momma and daddy she was a girl they didn't believe her either. They made her go to doctors and stuff and they didn't believe her neither. The only person in the whole world who believed her was her sister. So see its real hard being this kinda special cause since everybody thinks you is a boy, they don't want you doing girl things. You don't get to play with dolls or other girls, or have dresses or real pretty hair or nothing. See, look at my momma! See how happy she is playing dolls with her sister? That cause this is the only time she gets to do girl things."

The second baby sighed. "I think that is real sad, and I believe that is really your momma but how comed she had to be all special?"

The first baby gazed up toward the heavens and then back down toward the second. "This part here you gotta be extra sure you don't tell nobody. I mean it! This is the biggest secret of all, cause if you go spreading this around to the other babies there is gonna be a riot, and the angels got a tough enough time taking care of us already."

The first baby waited a moment and the second baby again nodded its compliance. "Okay, when the angel comed and took my momma and putted her inside her momma, the angel goofed!"

The second baby opened its mouth wide and drew in a breath before speaking a bit too loudly. "The angel goofed! They never goof!"

The first baby once again put a hand over the seconds mouth and then raised a finger to her own. "Shhhhhh! I told you it was a secret!"

The second baby dropped its head sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I forgotted, but I thought angels never goofed."

The first baby smiled sadly. "Almost never, but they goofed with my momma cause she was supposed to be a girl. The angel gived her a girls heart and soul and everything, but she accidentally gived her a boys body. Well...after my momma started growing up she figured out she was a little girl with a boys body, and she prayed to God to ask him to give her the right body. God was real sorry that there was a goof but he couldn't take her back and he couldn't give her a real little girls body, but he promised her that if she would believe that she was really a girl no matter what anybody would tell her, then when she got bigger she would get to be the bestest girl she could be. She would get to look like a girl and get to do all the things that other big girls do. Well...all except one thing."

The first baby sighed sadly and its eyes begin to mist as it continued. "There is one thing my momma won't never get to do. She won't never get to have a baby in her belly, and that is one of the bestest things about being a girl."

The second baby hugged the first. "I am real sorry she don't get to have no baby in her belly, but if she can't have babies then how is she gonna be your momma?"

The first baby wiped a tear from its eyes and smiled proudly. "Well God felt so bad about her not having no babies that he said that he would fix it so she could still be a momma without a baby being in her belly. One night while momma was sleepin and angel comed got her and brought her up here and while us babies was all sleepin the angel let her walk around and pick out a baby for her very own, and that's how I got "preserved" all special. Then the angel took her back and said that when it was time for her to have me that the angel would put me in another momma's belly but that this other momma would know she is having me for somebody else and that she would give me to my real momma as soon as I was borned and then I would be hers forever and ever. So see, now you know why my momma is so special and why I is preserved only for her.

The second baby shook its head in amazement. Wow that really is special! I bet your momma is the only special girl in the whole world."

The first baby shrugged its shoulders. "I don't think so, I kinda think that the angels goof more than we know about. I got a feelin that there is more special girls in the world than anybody knows about. I just hope that they got big sister's who know they is really girls and that God will help them kinda like he did my momma."

The second baby nodded in agreement. "Me too."

The first baby turned back to the image below the window and smiled as it pointed to it. "Look at my momma now. See, her sister done put dress up clothes on her. See, now she don't much look like a little boy no more and see how happy she is!"

The second baby gazed out the window and saw the image clearly. It looked just like two little girls having a teddy bear tea party and that's because in all the ways that really mattered, it was two little girls playing. The second baby smiled broadly. "She looks a whole lot more like a girl now, and real happy too."

The first baby smiled lovingly at the image and then turned once again to her friend. "You wanna see what my momma looks like right now and what she doing?"

The second baby's eyes immediately lit up. "Sure I do!"

Concentrating once again on the image of its mother, the first baby waved its hand back and forth and the two little girls disappeared. A second image took its place, and as it came in to view, the babies could see a young woman sitting by the side of a pond. She was all alone and reading a book.

The first baby jumped with joy and pointed toward her mother. "Can you see her? She's the real pretty girl sitting by the edge of the water. See she's got longer hair now."

The second baby peered through the clouds and finally saw the young woman the first called its momma. The second baby noticed how beautiful she was, but also how young she appeared. "Wow! She is really pretty! She don't look like a boy no more hardly at all. She looks a whole bunch more like a girl now. I bet don't nobody think she's a boy, but she still looks kinda young to be a momma I think.

The first baby nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she's still kinda young. She's not going to be my momma down there for a while yet. She's only 16 years old."

The second baby continued to observe the momma-to-be. "She doesn't look very happy right now. I think she's crying."

The second baby looked over at the first and was surprised to see a tear running down its face. "How come you are crying?"

The first baby stared intently at its mother, but answered its friend's question. "Cause not only can I hear my momma talk, I can FEEL everything she feels."

The second baby held the first babies hand. "I'm sorry she is so sad. Do you know why she is crying?"

The first baby nodded. "Yeah, and she is kinda sad, but kinda happy too. See, that book she is reading is real important. It's been wroted about special girls just like her and now she is happy cause it means that at least one doctor don't think she is crazy and that he believes she is a real girl! He talks about other girls like my momma and they is girls who was borned in the wrong body too and best of all if she does what that book tells her to do, she can get all fixed up and be just the same as all the rest of the girls, almost."

The second baby gave the first a puzzled look. "I kinda understand why she would be so happy but why is she sad too?"

The first baby sighed heavily. "She is sad cause she hurted so long and cause she had to live like a boy until now. She is sad cause she didn't get to do all the things that other little girls get to do, but most of all she is sad for the other special girls who don't got no big sisters to believe them and don't got no books like hers to read, cause they must hurt real bad and nobody will believe them."

The second baby cried a tear of its own. "That is so sad! It's sad cause your momma hurted so much and real sad that the other special girls ain't got nobody cause being all alone would be real bad and scarey too. At least we got angels. Some special girls don't got nobody."

The first baby smiled through its tears. "My momma is gonna be okay now, cause she ain't alone. She's got her sister and she's got me now. I can't come yet, but she talks to me all the time, and I make her feel better. She says that when she's all ready for me then I will come and I will make her whole life all complete."

The second baby considered the first's words. "Do you know how much longer you gotta wait until you can be borned and she can take you home?"

The first baby sighed. "I wish it was right now, but I think it's going to be along time. She is only 16, AND she hasn't even met my daddy yet. Momma says that after she meets my daddy they will fall in love and get married. After they get married, their love for each other will grow until they want to share it with a baby and that's when they will find a girl who will carry me in her belly and gived me to my momma when I is borned. And that's when I get to come."

The second baby smiled warmly at the picture the first painted, and looked down once again at the young woman.

It noticed she was no longer alone.

"Hey there is someone with your momma. I think it's a boy. You think HE could be your daddy."

The first baby closed its eyes and felt deeply the connection with its momma. "I dunno. She's not crying anymore, and she don't seem so sad."

The second baby pointed to the scene below it. "Look he's sitting next to her. Is she getting all full of love and happiness?"

The first baby sighed. "I'm not sure. She does kind of like him. He makes her feel funny, but a good kinda funny I think. He could be my daddy, but I don't know."

The second baby's eyes lit up. "Well he sure don't think your momma is no boy. I can tell he likes your momma a whole bunch. Maybe if he is your daddy you wont have to wait till after they get married, maybe he could just give her a whole bunch of love right now and then they could go get that girl to have you real quick.

The first baby solemnly shook its head back and forth. "Nope! My momma said that she would never know that kind of love with no boy until AFTER she was married, and it kinda takes a while to get borned after you is in a belly. I think I am gonna have to wait a long time still, but that's otay cause I just a baby, I got lots of time."

The babies watched the young couple sitting by the pond. The young woman had put down her book and was talking and laughing with the prospective young beau. The first baby smiled and then turned from the window.

"I'm glad momma feels better now. I know she is gonna have to do a whole bunch of stuff before she gets to be the girl she kinda wants to be, and its gonna be real tough sometimes and it's gonna hurt a lot too, but I will always be here and I will love her a bunch specially when she needs it. But it is kinda hard having to wait, cause I wished I could cuddle with her right now."

The second baby hugged the first. "Well, we got one thing in common, we hate having to wait for our momma's cause I wanna cuddle with my momma now too, but at least you already got your momma."

The second baby smiled and then returned to its place among the other babies. An angel approached and once again the baby smiled broadly, hoping that maybe this time it would be its turn.

The first baby returned its attention to the window in time to see its momma and her friend walking along the edge of the pond. They were still laughing and while the young woman carried her special book in one hand, the young man gently slipped his hand into her other.

The joy from its momma's heart filled the babies own. The baby smiled and thought to itself. "Yep Molly, momma was kind of sad cause she had to be special, but she is gonna be real happy now and when you is borned you is gonna be all happy too, cause she will hold you in her arms and be your momma and that makes you the luckiest little girl baby in the whole world."

Huggles all!