Pisces Birthday(s)

21 years ago my wife and I had left an appointment at the OBGYN, what would be our final OB appointment before our “son in the oven” was to be introduced into a strange and quickly declining world. But it was 2005, and at that time things seemed to be moving along nicely. We had two children at home already, a 4 year-old and 1 year-old that were two months from 5 and 2. Sure, we were in the thick of a second “Dubya” administration and slowly re-writing history in the Middle East with the illegal Iraqi war, but in our own little corner of the world my wife and I and our burgeoning family were doing okay.

The appointment revealed my wife was dilated, so we were given the option to go check in at the hospital. Not necessarily a hurry to get there, we made our way to a local restaurant and got breakfast. Afterwards, we were birthing center bound.

Out of all of the three pregnancies that came to fruition, our son’s seemed the easiest(as much as squeezing an 8 lb being our of your body can be.) We’d been down this road twice before, so we knew what to expect. It was pretty much a waiting game while we napped and watched bad TV. But finally late at night the boy arrived without a hitch. He was pink, screaming, and ready to take the world by the horns.

I was never one of those dads that felt he needed a son. I was happy with just a baby that was healthy and happy. We’d gone through two miscarriages prior to baby three, so I knew that beggers can’t be choosers and that Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate if she doesn’t feel like it. Even if you have a room full of baby stuff that will ultimately haunt you and make you sad, if it’s not meant to be it’s not going to be. So as far as the sex of a baby? It wasn’t my concern. I could be a dad to a baby girl as easily as I could be to a baby boy. I knew that in my bones.

But am I happy that we had a “whoopsie” baby boy? Absolutely. We had settled that two kids would be our magic number, but forces beyond our control thought we could use one more as our “wild card” baby. And a boy, to boot. Turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to us. Our son was the balance in our household. He made things seem right, even when we thought it already was right. I think he acted as a bit of a buffer between his older siblings, and that continued clear up to his teens.

Turns out I really like being the father of a son. As much as I thought it didn’t matter, having that “mini-me” in the house was something that grew over time. We were horror movie buffs, Marvel and DC buffs, Star Wars dorks together, and eventually he found a love for music in a big way. Playing percussion in the high school band, and then taking drum lessons so he could rock out with his buddies in the basement. We’ve seen several concerts together, and even now with him moved out we’re always talking about music and new bands.

My other two were very receptive to old toys of mine, as well as watching scary movies and building forts and pizza nights and reading lots and lots of books. But once they hit a certain age they were off on their own. Friends to spend down time with, and not much interest in the new Marvel flick at the local cinema. But the boy and I made it our thing. We made lots of things our things and I will never not cherish those moments.

He lives two hours away now with his girlfriend. They’ve made a nice little spot for themselves, along with their doggo Rylie. His girlfriend is going to school and working part-time, while he’s working full-time at a grocery store. I would have liked to have been able to get down there and take them out to dinner, but not sure this week is going to allow that. Would have been nice to buy him his first “legal” beer. Oh well, they’ll be other opportunities.

And not only are we celebrating our son’s birthday, we’re celebrating his girlfriend’s birthday as well. She’s a March 2nd baby as well.

Just wanted to take a breather and celebrate my son on his birthday. 21 years old. Couldn’t be prouder of the fine young man he turned out to be.