Local mom recalls day she thought would never come 

  Sometimes it is all about God’s timing.

During her first 18 years of marriage, Jackie Pittman Curtis recalled sitting in church on Mother’s Day Sunday, watching the other women stand when mothers were recognized. Eventually, they would ask those women who did not have children, but had played a motherly role, to stand, and Jackie would join the mothers.

In December 2005, Curtis and her husband, Shawn, found out that they were on the way to becoming parents when she got pregnant with their daughter, Tinsley. 

“We didn’t think we could have any kids,” Jackie said.

Jackie, executive director of Communities in Schools of Georgia in Laurens/Twiggs Counties, said they were shocked when they found out they were expecting. Jackie was cooking breakfast on a December morning when she started feeling sick. She went to the store and bought a pregnancy test, and it showed she was pregnant.  A day later, Shawn bought a pregnancy test, and the results were the same.

The Curtises were in Macon the next day, and Jackie was again not feeling good. She went to her doctor’s office and learned she was five weeks pregnant.

“I walked out front and told them that my name was wrong on this chart,” Jackie said. “I said that it says ‘Jackie,’ but he’s ‘Abraham’ and I’m ‘Sarah.’ I said we are old having this baby. I was 37 and he was 40. … This was something I never thought I’d experience. We had never been on any birth control. I had gone to the doctor and they ran some tests on me and Shawn, and I didn’t want to go through all of that.”

Shawn told Jackie it would be OK if they never had children. But along came that December morning when Jackie felt ill and then the verifications that they were indeed having a baby.

“After we found out we were pregnant, we had doctor’s visits and a sonogram done,” Jackie said. “The specialist said (Tinsley) had one kidney, and it was horseshoe-shaped, and she probably wouldn’t live past the age of 2 because she had polycystic kidney disease.”

Later on, when Tinsley was 6, they discovered that Jackie had that disease. At the time, Jackie recalls what she was asking God for when it came to her baby girl.

“I remember praying to God to let me hold her for just a little while,” Jackie said. “I also prayed to help me to accept what He chooses to do and just give me the strength to deal with whatever happens.”

The next Sunday, Jackie heard a sermon from her pastor about fear.

“He said that fear was ‘False Evidence Appearing Real,’” she said. “I clung to that.”

On Aug. 18, 2006, Tinsley came into the world. 

“It was the scariest day of my life,” Jackie said. “They told me that when we had her, she would be shipped to an Atlanta hospital.”

That did not happen. Tinsley was fine.

“When we had her, she was perfect,” Jackie said.

That next Mother’s Day, Jackie was able to stand in church when it was time to honor mothers. 

“It felt like I had been trying to get into this exclusive club and I had made it,” Jackie said. “I was emotional.” 

She enjoyed cuddling and kissing on her daughter, something that does not happen a lot now.

“I’d give you a hug,” Tinsley said when she heard her mother’s remarks.  

“When I do get that,”Jackie said, “she wants something.” 

Jackie said Tinsley is Shawn’s “best little friend in the world.”

“I can’t imagine him not having that relationship that he has with her,” Jackie said. “He’s the best dad and their relationship is so special. I can’t imagine either one of us missing out on that. I’m grateful that he is demonstrating to her, how she should be treated.” 

Jackie has always wanted Tinsley to feel comfortable talking to her.

“As a mother, she has created a good mother-daughter relationship with me,” Tinsley said. “I know I can be open and honest about anything.”

Tinsley likes the way people respect her mother.

“She can walk in somewhere and everybody looks up to her,” said Tinsley, who will be graduating from Dublin High School in a few weeks and heading to Georgia Southern University in Statesboro this August.

Tinsley is used to being around her mother and father and acknowledged that she will be sad when she leaves for college. She knows they are a phone call away.

“I’m used to it being me and them,” she said. “I’ll probably reach out and call every day. Probably, twice a day.” 

Jackie has mixed feelings. She hates to see her go, but she knows it is time for Tinsley to step out of the nest and begin her next chapter.

“I’ve said to people that being a mom has been the most rewarding job I’ve ever had out of anything that I’ve done,” Jackie said. “I’ve always tried to be a good role model for her. I’m so proud of her and everything she has accomplished. She has done so well at this level, and I’m ready to see what she’ll do on the collegiate level. We have given her the tools she needs to be successful. There’s a balance between wanting to keep her forever and knowing that we’ve raised her to go out and make good decisions and be great.”