fatherhood

Summer Vacation, Day 41: Birthday Boy!

/ J. Thorp / 2 Comments

Eight years ago yesterday, on her birthday, Jodi had an OB appointment, and the doctor had an announcement – the baby in her belly was bulking up fast and needed to come out. We were a only few days overdue, but all her measurements suggested that whoever was in there seemed content to simply expand. The doctor would induce the next day.

We postponed celebrating her birthday until after Gabe’s birth. He was 11 pounds 11 ounces, dwarfing his big brother’s substantial birth weight of 9-9. (Emma, incidentally, weighed a petite 9-5; Trevor frightened the hospital staff at 12-2.)

He’s eight. I can hardly believe how the time passes. Almost makes me want to run.

Summer Vacation, Day 39: Non-Stop Fun

/ J. Thorp / 1 Comment

Gabe turns eight on Monday, so last night he hosted a sleep-over birthday party. Bren went to a friend’s house, so it was our Gabe and his friends Gabe A., Jack, and Cole, plus Emma and Trevor. The boys were awake until around 1 a.m., and rose around 7. Ah, to have that youthful energy!

They left around 9:30, Bren came home around 10, and Bren, Gabe and I left at 10:15 for kung-fu class in St. Paul. (This is the first weekend in the last five or six that we’ve made it.) Then home again for lunch, then Emma and I left to get the oil changed in the Golf and finish birthday shopping for Jodi – hers is tomorrow. Returned from that in time to get ready for Bren’s final baseball game. They lost a great game tonight, 10-8. Well done, Radiators – kudos on a great season! Got home around 8 for supper; showers and baths and clean-up until right about now – quarter to 10 p.m.

Tomorrow looks like church, a special brunch for Jodi, gifts, yard work (a ton!), then a cookout at a friends place. Still haven’t gone fishin’. Still having a pretty good time.

Summer Vacation, Day 34: Unlike Father, Unlike Son

/ J. Thorp / 3 Comments

Brendan’s baseball team, Roger’s Radiator Repair, started the playoffs tonight as the six seed, playing St. Michael Legion, the three seed. The Radiators were up by one going into the bottom of the fifth, but couldn’t quite hold the Legion off – the score was 13-13 at the end of the fifth.

The Radiators won in the sixth inning – technically an extra inning, since no inning can start after 8:15 p.m., unless the score is tied and it’s the playoffs. Bren played the first three innings at first base, where he got three runners out, including a slow grounder which he charged and fielded, then tagged the runner.

He played catcher for the rest of the game, making a close tag at the plate to save a run in the fifth. He also had three singles, made no outs, batted in the winning run in the sixth and scored the security run himself.

The boy plays with amazing patience and poise these days. I hated catcher and first base as a player, because I never felt like I had time to breathe – always a ball coming at you …

Both he and the team are getting better every day. Go Radiators!

Summer Vacation, Day 31: Independence Day Stream of Consciousness

/ J. Thorp / 2 Comments

I was looking for the exact circumstances of a quote by Ben Franklin for today. Coincidentally, the top search return was a speech by Ron Paul on his official House of Representatives Web site. This is interesting to me, because I find myself feeling increasingly libertarian these days, and increasingly convinced that our problems must first be solved in our own backyards.

Here’s the bit, as referenced by Congressman Paul:

At the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a Mrs. Powel anxiously awaited the results, and as Benjamin Franklin emerged from the long task now finished, asked him directly: “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” “A republic if you can keep it” responded Franklin.

A society as free as ours is bound to raise up various and noxious weeds among our “amber waves of grain” – but I wouldn’t live anywhere else (at least, not permanently), nor would I sacrifice these personal freedoms for a supposedly cleaner or safer society. If we are to secure both our freedoms and a safe and sane society, we must start at home. I’ll work harder at that, starting right now …

Gotta go squeeze the Thorplets – happy Independence Day, my friends!

Summer Vacation, Day 18 (Belated): Trevvy

/ J. Thorp / 3 Comments

Trevor turned four yesterday at the campground. Usually he wakes up hard, but yesterday, he was rarin’ to go! As we made our way from the cabin to the restroom, I pointed to the sign that said MEN and asked, “Trevvy, that says men … are you a man now?”

“Yup,” he said. “I’m a man, big and strong!”

Later I was telling a friend about this, and Trevor heard me. “And tough, even!” he added.

“So you’re big and strong and even tough?” I asked.

“Yup!” he said.

“How tough are you?” I asked.

“Bet I could beat you up!” he said, grinning ear to ear.

So it begins. Happy Birthday, little man!