If you had seen that three-month-old baby, you'd say, "Man, he looks like the picture of health." He was a handsome baby, full of dark hair, doubled his weight since he was born, strong, taking in everything going on around him, and a smile that could melt your heart. But inside, it was a different story. He'd already had two major heart surgeries in his short life and the prospect of more in his future.
I'm told that new babies actually lose a little weight between the time they're born and the checkup they have two weeks later. Oh, not when our little granddaughter was new! No! No! And we know why. She was extremely dedicated to eating often and eating a lot. Her mother's milk obviously agreed with her. She had been one happy little girl, until it was time to eat again. At which point she would crank it up and let us know in no uncertain terms "I'm hungry! I will not be delayed! I will not be denied!" I think that's what she said.
Our friends were expecting their baby in about six weeks. But the baby didn't get the message. No. They had flown in from Denver to attend a convention in Chicago and we were all at the same convention. Since I was living in Chicago at the time, I said, "Hey, baby happens, call me. I'll get you to the hospital in plenty of time. It's my city. You don't have anything to worry about." We were all laughing. I wasn't laughing at 6:00 A.M. the next morning when I got a phone call in my hotel room saying, "She's in labor!" Of course, I'm going crazy. I've got to get them to the hospital.
At our house, we call it clean juice. I think the official name is "hand sanitizer." Whatever it's called, I use it big-time for flu germs! Actually there was a flu outbreak that took place, and our hospital was overwhelmed. The next closest hospital was overwhelmed, too, by people from our town. And, boy, what did the pandemic do? Lots of clean juice.
They call it the Mayan prophecy. Yeah, it was a few years ago. If people had been right about it, you wouldn't be listening to me right now. It was December 21, 2012. Yeah, they said years ago that was the day everybody was talking about as the predicted "end of the world." I'm guessing it didn't happen.
It's kind of hard to think of any good news when you just broke your hand, but there can be some. Yeah. My wife learned that when she was in an accident in our car with two of our children. They were rear-ended. Somebody slammed into the back of them, and the result for my wife was a broken hand and six weeks in a cast. Well, she was unable to use her working hand; her writing hand even for about a month and a half.
Okay, it's an adult privilege to get nostalgic every once in a while, right? My wife and I would suddenly get this far-away look, and you know, drift back to some childhood incident. But frankly, I liked it when my wife was telling about her childhood on the farm in the Ozarks. I enjoyed hearing about it.
So I'm in the backyard with our then six-year-old grandson when, out of the blue, he says, "Grandpa, I'm going to be married someday." Oh boy. I'm searching for something wise to say as grandfathers are supposed to do. My grandson saved me - with five little words, "But it's up to Jesus." That little conversation has replayed in my head and my heart a dozen times I think.
It was some weeks ago, but man it had been a week for bombshells. One of America's most revered military leaders, and then the head of the super-secret CIA, resigned because of an admitted affair. For all the secrets of his agency, his personal secret exploded into headlines around the world.
You probably wouldn't think it's any big deal that you could turn over by yourself, or burp yourself, or feed yourself. Hey, but it's a big deal when your grandson starts doing it, and he's kind of new. Yeah, I remember when he was, and that first time he turned over...that was a milestone! In fact, Mom called and said, "I wish you could see him now. He's feeding himself Cheerios!" Yeah, that was another milestone. What? Well, yeah. You know, I guess I was dancing in the streets! I was so happy. Now, see, he had just been studying his hand for months. He would sit there going, ahhhh looking at his hand, flexing those fingers, eventually trying to grab available targets like noses and glasses. But now, boy, he had it together. He was sitting in a high chair with Cheerios on a tray and he was reaching to one of those O's, wrapping his fingers around it, and putting it in his mouth all by himself! And then he smiled and laughed real big. What a guy!
