Everyone who knows me is well aware of my love of Disney. When I was little, my mom sang the song "Baby Mine" (from Dumbo) to me constantly. We have a home video of me singing it back to her for the camera. It was one of our favorites and I still to this day love it and know all the words. I always loved the character of Dumbo and the themed ride at Disney, but I only watched the movie a couple times growing up and didn't remember much from it.
Now years later, I watched the movie and was shocked to see something that had gone far over my head every other time I had watched the movie before. If you can't remember or haven't seen Dumbo, at the beginning of the movie, storks come to deliver all the animals' babies. All the animals in the circus are receiving their little bundles of joy, as Mrs. Jumbo (Dumbo's mom) looks on excitedly, waiting for her own bundle of joy. As each stork delivers their baby, she continues to get her hopes up, thinking it's her turn. Finally, all the storks leave and she is left saddened, without a baby, and alone.
Boy, do we relate. This infertility train is an emotional rollercoaster of gaining hope and losing it just as quickly as it came, over and over again, month after month. You're happy for others, but that doesn't mean you don't hurt and grieve for yourself and what you know you are missing.
As the movie goes on, Mrs. Jumbo finally gets her baby. And the waiting and desiring and hoping and wishing finally ends. But it's a beautiful storyline with a deeper meaning that I find so relatable. Since Mrs. Jumbo went through all this waiting and wishing and sadness, she is more thankful for her little Dumbo (than she may have been before) and loves him no matter what. She's just thankful to have her child and she sings:
"From your head to your toes,
You're so sweet, goodness knows,
You are so precious to me,
Sweet as can be, baby of mine."
So in other words, Mrs. Jumbo is my spirit animal and this song that I have heard and known my whole life, has an even more special meaning to me now. This song and story inspired the name of our blog.
Hopefully, someday soon, we get to sing this precious lullaby to our own little "Dumbo". (And that may be literal if my ears are genetic.)
Abby
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