It Was 16 Years Ago. I Remember the Day Well.
The afternoon was going to be a somewhat emotional time. A former colleague of mine, Jim, had passed away after unsuccessfully battling ALS. The funeral was about 50 miles away. My friend and co-worker Holly had her car in the shop and I agreed to give her a ride. We had both worked with Jim in the past at a different institution. We were to leave work at 2:00 p.m. for the drive south.
On the bright side, the day was also the day that the campus Hospitality Club sponsored its annual Thanksgiving luncheon. Hand-carved turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, ... you get the picture. I had just gotten my lunch and decided to eat it in my office when the phone rang. It was my wife.
Mrs. L: It's time.
L: Time for what?
Mrs. L: Time for our baby to be born. I'm getting ready to go to the hospital.
L: (whining) But I just sat down with this great lunch ...
Mrs. L: Okay -- eat your darn lunch. Just meet me at the hospital.
L: Okay!
I mean, really ... it WAS a great lunch!
I called Holly to let her know that I couldn't drive her to the funeral. I ate the delicious lunch at a somewhat accelerated pace and headed to the hospital ...
Time certainly flies. I always enjoy telling that story in November. And now, 16 years later, my baby is old enough to drive a car.
Parents have different relationships with different kids. This daughter, Erin, actually likes to listen to the stories of my trips to Las Vegas. In fact, I once took her with me for a non-gambling trip and wrote a post about it.
When I wanted someone to go with me to Iowa to visit the Buddy Holly plane crash site, who was the person to take along?
Erin, like her mother, is highly artistic. She practically lives on the computer and enjoys creating things online. When actually dragged away from the computer, she can usually be found snuggling with a family pet.
Non-conformist that she is, doing or wearing anything creative or unusual suits her well.
So ... today is her day. She hit the magic 16. Does that mean that I am growing old????
Happy birthday, daughter of mine. Thanks for showing that the decision to have one more child was a great one indeed.
On the bright side, the day was also the day that the campus Hospitality Club sponsored its annual Thanksgiving luncheon. Hand-carved turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, ... you get the picture. I had just gotten my lunch and decided to eat it in my office when the phone rang. It was my wife.
Mrs. L: It's time.
L: Time for what?
Mrs. L: Time for our baby to be born. I'm getting ready to go to the hospital.
L: (whining) But I just sat down with this great lunch ...
Mrs. L: Okay -- eat your darn lunch. Just meet me at the hospital.
L: Okay!
I mean, really ... it WAS a great lunch!
I called Holly to let her know that I couldn't drive her to the funeral. I ate the delicious lunch at a somewhat accelerated pace and headed to the hospital ...
Time certainly flies. I always enjoy telling that story in November. And now, 16 years later, my baby is old enough to drive a car.
Parents have different relationships with different kids. This daughter, Erin, actually likes to listen to the stories of my trips to Las Vegas. In fact, I once took her with me for a non-gambling trip and wrote a post about it.
When I wanted someone to go with me to Iowa to visit the Buddy Holly plane crash site, who was the person to take along?
posted by lightning36 at 1:37 PM
7 Comments:
it WAS a great lunch!
Hope it was a great couch too!
Very sweet - Happy Birthday Erin! :)
Really she is very lovely and sincere girl.Happy birthday to u !
Awww Happy Belated Birthday to Erin! She's gorgeous so she must take after her mother. :P
Happy Birthday to Erin! Cutie with a great name.
Happy Birthday to Erin!
I have to say, it was a great decision. And it was Lightning's. He'd told me some time earlier that 2 was enough and he didn't want to hear another thing about it. Then one day he changed his mind.
However, I want to clarify that I did not tell him to eat his darn lunch. I said something more along the lines of "OK, but don't loiter." Seriously, he took an hour to get ready to go to the hospital with me when the first one was born. The second one was induced, and I went on in and let him stay home and sleep and take care of our daughter and niece for the morning. And with both of them he went to 'Vegas within a week or two of their births. Would I really have been pushy about him getting to the hospital any time soon? I don't think so. The only reason I called as soon as I did was so that he wouldn't go to the out of town funeral and miss the whole birth!
Despite his faulty memory, he is a wonderful husband and dad. And I'm really glad he said we should go for three!
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