ITS HARD TO SAY BABY BOY WHEN HE WAS BORN IN 1968. But you know, in all honesty he still is our baby boy.
Happy Birthday Jimbo. You were quite a surprise in our lives. Your sister was 15 years old and our lives were pretty well settled. Then all of a sudden the doctor announced it was really not something that i had eaten that had given me indigestion, it was you!!!
So there I was with an unbelieving spirit and a husband in shock and a teenage girl absolutely bouncing off the walls with happiness. So after working every day for the entirety of the nine months and in your defense never feeling better in my life, on the afternoon of September 9, 1968, after working til 2:00 in the afternoon, i went home packed a bag, got in the car with your Dad and sister and ventured to the Bethania Hospital, You were scheduled to arrive the next morning and we had reserved the operating room for 9:00. It was rather nice that evening, i had whatever i wanted to eat for dinner, had a nice big private room, and a good book, didn't feel bad and after kissing your dad and sister goodnight and them leaving, it all of a sudden hit me.
What on earth was i doing there. I was not ready for this. I wasn't all that motherly (as you would find out) my life was just peachy and all of a sudden someone small unable to take care of themselves, or even pick up after themselves was going to descend on my life into my space if you will.
It was a long night.
Fortunately you were born while it was still a civilized event, None of that room full of people, just anyone that wanted to drop by while the poor mother lay there in pain with legs spread asunder and belly in a sort of tent. No, I knew everyone that walked in the room which would have been the doctor and the nurse and your dad and sister. Even they were taken to a discrete waiting room when it was time for you and i to go the green mile, alone together, just you and i and the doctor who would put me to sleep and two nurses Plus, Dr. Richard Bates. One of the nurses, a lovely lady named Mary Rogers.
She would be the one to announce your arrival to your dad, sister, your grandmother and your great grandfather, (again all waiting outside in a waiting room)
I vaguely remember being told your had gotten here, then i was put to sleep and it was later that evening when you came to visit me for a while (we were also civilized about the babies staying in the nursery so that the mother could rest). On that visit, just you and I, something happened that i did not expect......I fell in love. It has never gone away.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY
