I repost here a blog I wrote for his birthday in 2010 and again say to him he was a BIG DEAL and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW, SEPTEMBER 10, FROM MOM AND DAD..
You know as you get older, you realize things you considered BIG are really LITTLE in the scheme of things. For instance: you will recall that Mate and I ran off and got married. Boy was that a BIG thing! After 57 years the actual planning and doing it was not at all that big. It was one of many defining moments in our lives and certainly the living together is BIGGER than the actual running away. The finding a way to buy a home across the street from the Colleys was really not such a BIG thing. The BIG thing was living and forming lasting memories and friendships together for over 30 years. In 1967, our family consisted of a Mom, Dad and 14 year old daughter. Our lives were just peachy. Our wants were not much. Daughter was doing okay in school, we were content. Had just what we wanted. Fusses every once in a while but they passed. All in all....... GOOD life. God blessed us.
1968 proved that indeed God has a sense of humor.
If you live in Wichita Falls, Texas, you know that usually on the last Saturday in January each year, the Kiwanis Club has a pancake breakfast and it is almost mandatory to attend sometime during the day. We always did. After all you got to visit with people you didn't see much during the year, and every politician who was running for office or trying to stay in office would be there and back then they gave away pencils or rulers. It was, you might say, festive. Plus all the bacon and pancakes you wanted.
In 1968 my doctor's office was open on Saturday mornings. I had made an appointment. Told no one. In my mind I had decided I was going to have a baby. Don't have the slightest idea why (maybe that sense of humor thing again). Dr. Richard Bates, my doctor for everything. I loved Richard Bates. No personality, seldom ever joked , just down to business. Office on Brook Street. Told him what I thought, and he laughed. That was a BIG thing. I had made Richard Bates laugh. Had to do a test. He said he would let me know Monday. Told him I would be a maniac before Monday. Nurse, friend of mine, said she would run the test and he would call me in a couple of hours. Feeling better I went home.
Mate and daughter ready to go eat pancakes. I stalled. Phone rang. I answered. Simple statement from Richard Bates. "You're pregnant." His next words, "Are you Okay?" I think I must have weakly said "Yes". How do you tell two unsuspecting persons that three people's lives as they know them are about to change and change dramatically, when they have no clue what is going on? When in doubt, barrel in. "Lets go eat pancakes and by the way, we are going to have a baby," I said as I walked toward the door. That my friends was a 'BIG THING'.
Needless to say we did not leave right away, we had a family discussion. Daughter wanted immediately to run tell the neighbors. Mate said, do not leave the house. I think it took a while for it to sink in.
Well 1968 had come in like a lion. We adjusted. Daughter was ecstatic, Mate happy, I stayed in shock. I was the practical one. I thought about things like, PTA again, bottles to sterilize, diapers to wash. Now along about three-forths of the way through I began to do some investigation and found that things had come a long way. Bottles of formula could be bought and all you had to do was to put a nipple on the top of the bottle. Pampers were introduced some 7 years earlier but had not caught on. They had a long way to go and still used those huge safety pins with the little ducks on them. However, at this point in time, unlike when Daughter was born, we had a washer. No dryer yet, but a washer that you did not have to stand over and operate. It did it on its own. Still almost every back yard had a clothes line. One good thing about the pregnancy is that I never felt better in my entire life, before or since. Didn't gain but 14 pounds, was able to get really cute maternity clothes and best of all people made over me all the time. They thought it was wonderful. I was not certain of that. Selfishly I kept thinking about how my life was going to change. I worked until 2:00 on the afternoon of September 9, 1968, and went home got my "stuff" together and Mate, Daughter and I journeyed to the hospital where I was scheduled to deliver a baby the next morning at 9:30. Well, it was almost fun. I had a large room, flowers from bosses, whatever I wanted to eat that evening. It wasn't til Mate and Daughter left that I assessed my position. There was no way to get out of it, no way to say, "I changed my mind", nothing to do but plow ahead and wonder if it would be a boy or girl. So the next morning, I bade my family a teary see you later and was wheeled into the operating room. At 9:36 on September 10, 1968 , Dr. Bates announced, "You have a fine looking boy here."
That folks is a
BIG, BIG, DEAL Happy Birthday Son. Thanks for coming into our lives
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