This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years, and now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Today, we're talking about how you don't have to earn more when you can save more.
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Mm. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people, coming to you from the city where the West begins. Fort Worth, Texas. Up next, another story from a writing student of one of our longtime regular contributors in Kodiak Island, Alaska. Leslie Leland Fields.
Today, Jolene Levart shares her story entitled Embracing a Child. Take it away, Jolene. I happened to be in town when I received the text message announcing the arrival of a healthy baby boy. The moment I had been dreading was here, and suddenly I knew what I had to do. I drove the few blocks to the hospital.
determined to show love to my little sister, no matter the cost to myself. The strong October winds howled outside, and as I walked the long corridors the building seemed to tremble. I came from a baby-loving family. I'd held them, cuddled them, and watched over bunches of them. But now the thought of holding a newborn felt as scary as the idea of holding a snake.
Uh Avoidance had been how I'd been coping with many years of unexplained infertility. simply averting my eyes and blocking reality from my mind. It had seemed like a good strategy. Until now. I couldn't do that to my sister.
She was too important to me. I braced myself as I entered the maternity ward. The posters of women with large round abdomens and smiling babies made me want to crawl out of my skin. I asked a nurse if I could visit she seemed so pleased to lead the way down the hall, assuming I was pleased to be there too. Then she proudly swept back a curtain, revealing the perfect family.
I had expected to find my sister exhausted instead, she was glowing with some kind of motherly euphoria. holding a little bundle, her doting husband at her side. That was quick, she said, as she looked up with a beaming smile. You're the first visitor. I was in town, I shrugged.
Do you want to hold him? she asked eagerly. I didn't, but that was the whole point of being here, so I took the fragile newborn and held him close, my heart breaking with both love and pain. Infertility wasn't the only heartache I was dealing with. Lately, I had been overwrought, dwelling on the circumstances of my own birth, which had been much less ideal.
I was finally facing how much my father's absence had cast a dark shadow on my entire existence. That feeling of being unwanted stalked me still, and that was the second reason I was here. I had to come, I said, my voice beginning to crack. Because no child should ever be unwanted. Not even by their aunt.
I doubt they understood the magnitude of my statement or what it meant to me. And that was okay. They were pleased that I had come, and before long I handed the baby back to his mother. and said goodbye. I was so relieved to have that first visit out of the way and at the time was not thinking of anything beyond getting myself to the car and back home again.
Over the years I have developed a special affinity for Eli. I see him often since he lives near by, and he has come to expect that I will always be around with snacks on hand. His personality is introverted and precise, similar to mine, but different from the family that binds us together. He takes after his dad, and I, from the little I've been able to gather, take after mine. Yet I sometimes feel I see my own reflection in him just a little.
Last week I walked through the stubble of a wheat field, carrying two suppers out to the combine. Hmm. My husband had taken Eli along as he harvested. I squeezed into the cab with them and then the combine kept rolling as I handed out containers of lasagna. Eli sat on my lap, something he is not keen to do otherwise.
He's almost eight now, tall and thin, and cuddles from Auntie aren't something he has given in to for a long time. It was a perfect August day. A warm sun with a dry breeze, golden wheat waving against a clear blue sky. We enjoyed watching the hawk circling in the air above and the header gobbling up the standing grain. Through the back window we could see the hopper fill up with kernels and then empty into the grain cart.
Eli was fascinated with the technology of the modern machine, and he w explained to me in detail the various workings of the GPS and such. I pretended to be interested, but all the while I was secretly relishing holding this little boy on my lap, being sure not to squeeze too tight so he wouldn't suspect that it was turning into a hug. It reminded me of the first day I held him and how hard it had been. how close I had come to turning my back on him And so grateful that I hadn't. The Combine's monitors showed that the crop was yielding very well.
Our bins will be full this fall. In this moment my heart, too, was brimming. The memory of that hospital visit has always stood tall in the back of my mind. I had marched in there that day to dutifully do what I thought was necessary at the time. Today I see that it went much deeper than that.
I thought I was holding Eli. but I was also, in another, more mysterious way, holding me. By recognizing the worthiness of his birth, I was giving weight to my own, maybe even for the first time.
Some gifts are harder to receive than others.
Some don't seem like gifts at all, but turn out to be just what we need after some time has passed. like Eli, and like my own life. I've come to see that it too is a gift. one that has taken me a very long time to embrace. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Reagan Habib and Monty Montgomery.
And a special thanks to Jolene Levarte. A seemingly simple story, but a deep and profound one about the embrace of a child. Here. on our American stories. This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories.
Every day on this show, we tell stories of history, faith, business, love, loss, and your stories. Send us your stories, small or large, to our email, oas at ouramericanstories.com. That's oas at ouramericanstories.com. We'd love to hear them and put them on the air. Our audience loves them too.
Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage.
Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. In football, you've got guys from everywhere. Different backgrounds, different beliefs, all of it.
You don't agree on everything. but you got each other's backs. That's how it works. And right now, off the field, hate's going up everywhere. Different communities, different ways.
And Jewish communities are getting hit hard. That's not how a team operates. The blue square is just one way of showing you've got people's backs. Go to bluesquarealliance.org, grab one, share it, be a good teammate. You ever wonder how far an E V can take you on one charge?
Well, most people drive about 40 miles a day, which means you can do all daily stuff no problem. Go to work, grab the kids at school, get the groceries, and still have enough charge to visit your in-laws in the next county. But they don't need to know that. And the best part, you won't have to buy gas at all. The way forward is electric.
Explore EVs that fit your life at electricforall.org. I'm U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. We all seem to be in a rush these days. from work to driving our kids around.
But when you're behind the wheel, please. Do not speed. A few minutes saved by going faster. is never worth a risk.
So follow the speed limit. Enjoy the drive. Maybe bring some snacks for the kids. and know that along the way, you're getting quality time with your family. Paid for by Nitza.
