My little boy
Sunday June 06th 2010, 10:21 pm
Filed under: Family

It’s official: now they’re 22, 24, 26, and 28.

He was due Memorial Day.  He came on D-Day instead, exactly 40 years later.  He missed my dad’s birthday by a day, but I got the obstetrician I wanted that way.

I called the OB’s office that June 6 and asked which doctor was on call.

The nurse on the line immediately shot back, and this is a direct quote, “Why, if it’s the wrong one are you going to go out of labor?”

Note that I hadn’t even told her I was *in* labor, but I shot right back, “Yes.”  I am an honest person.

I googled St. Joseph’s in Nashua, NH this morning and was pleased to see that it still exists and still by that name.   Hopefully they’ve got a new AC unit by now. That day, New Hampshire was having a record heat wave, 106, and somehow, at St. Joseph’s, a record baby wave to match: the nursery was used to having a half a dozen. There were 37 newborns, among them, my little guy, and the AC blew its cool.

He’s not so little now. A friend of mine once saw him walking up to us, and from his height of 6’6” or or, exclaimed, “Wow. I’m not used to looking UP at people!”

I used to be bigger than you.  You’re a good man. You picked the best bride on earth, and I am so proud of you both.  Now I’m the one who has to live up to whom you’ve chosen to be, and I look forward to seeing all that is to come.  To life!

Happy Birthday, Richard!


13 Comments so far
Leave a comment

Our mutual friend says that her sweetheart is short in comparison to the guys in her family; I see what she means, and I still look up to him.

Comment by Lynn 06.06.10 @ 11:25 pm

Happy belated birthday to Richard and to your father!

Best wishes for many happy and healthy returns. 🙂

Comment by Suzanne in Montreal 06.07.10 @ 5:39 am

happy birthday Richard — and happy birthday Dorothy (who turned 27 on the same date!)

really? you were going to go “out” of labor — nice trick!

and aren’t these June babies great?!

Comment by Bev 06.07.10 @ 6:14 am

Congratulations. Such a good story

Comment by Sherry in Idaho 06.07.10 @ 7:05 am

Heh – Nashua is only a few miles away from me and I’ve been by St. Joseph’s many times 🙂 Happy birthday Richard!

Comment by Robbyn 06.07.10 @ 8:04 am

Oh, my! They do tend to grow up, don’t they! I’ll have to email you a couple of photos appropriate to the subject, including June birthdays.

Humor –

TOMBSTONES

London, England: Here lies Ann Mann, who lived an old maid but died an old Mann.

Ruidoso, New Mexico: Here lies Johnny Yeast… Pardon me for not rising.

Comment by Don Meyer 06.07.10 @ 9:35 am

lovely post to your baby! Happy Birthing day to you and birthday to him. g

Comment by gMarie 06.07.10 @ 10:28 am

Happy birthday, Richard! And, happy birthing-day, Alison! My baby, who’s 26-almost-27 now, is taller than me these days, too. However, I can still cut him down to size with a word when he gets a bit too big for his britches! Mom power is a truly awesome thing.

Much love!

Comment by Pegi 06.07.10 @ 10:32 am

Happy Birthday, Richard!

Comment by RobinM 06.07.10 @ 12:04 pm

Happy birthday, tall one!

Comment by Lene 06.07.10 @ 3:50 pm

To life, indeed! Happy birthday, Richard, and congratulations, mom 🙂

Comment by Jocelyn 06.07.10 @ 6:48 pm

Happy birthday, Richard! What a sweet tale… minus the 106 degrees and feeble AC…

Comment by Channon 06.07.10 @ 7:36 pm

I don’t know when they last renovated, but I suspect you wouldn’t recognize St. Joseph’s these days. It looks like a cross between a shopping mall and an office complex- information desk, attractive-looking cafe, interior windows, professional-looking signs; here for laboratory services, there for radiology. I can’t speak for the AC, though- the last time I was there was in September!

Comment by RobinH 06.08.10 @ 12:16 pm



Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)