Andrew, our first child, was 6 months old and he was crying, and crying and crying. Usually a happy baby, we knew something was wrong. At home, we would have taken him to his pediatrician.  But we weren't at home.  We were in a hotel, a nice hotel, in a resort area, on a beautiful lake.

This was supposed to be an fun, family outing for Andrew and me, a family outing mixed with business for my husband.  We hadn't planned on mixing misery in with our fun.

But Andrew was miserable, and consequently, so were we.  And probably too, all those poor folks who had also come to that lovely hotel for a pleasant weekend.  And were instead also listening to - not as closely as Gregg and I were, but hearing none the less - a baby scream.

One of the most unpleasant sounds in the world is the sound of a baby crying.  Normal adult instincts demand that you do something, anything to keep a baby from crying.

Gregg and I may have been closer to that unpleasant sound, but we were also able to do something.  We were rocking, patting, singing, nursing, rubbing his tummy.  The other poor people being subjected to the noise could not see our efforts, didn't know if we were even really trying to help.  Maybe someone thought we had abandoned our baby.  Maybe someone thought we were sleeping through the din.

At some point, after 11 p.m., we took Andrew for a drive, hoping the car ride would put him to sleep.  It didn't.

So, back to the hotel and our bed.  But with no more success in calming our precious baby than before.

Finally, around 1 a.m., the phone rang. The hotel desk informed us that people were complaining about the crying baby.  Gregg and I looked at each other.  We were doing all we could think to do. We weren't even angry with the people who complained.  They didn't know how hard we were trying to quiet our baby.

By two o'clock, Andrew had screamed himself to sleep.  And we were all able at last to sleep. By the next morning, Andrew was our happy, cheerful baby again.  We were never sure exactly what was wrong with him that night.

So, if you were in that hotel, back in the Spring of 1980, at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, and remember being kept awake by a screaming baby, please accept our apology for your disturbed sleep. We really were doing all we could do to quiet our crying child.