May 17th, 2005

May 17th is the day my grandmother was born 82 years ago. On May 17th this year she received the best birthday present she's ever gotten in 82 years: a grandson.

That's right, I'm an uncle.

Me being at work, as I always am, I was not able to be there for the birth of my nephew, we'll call him AT. It was tough, let me tell you, I wanted to pack up the car, leave my work, and just head east. But at 450 miles away it wasn't very feasible. So I got lots of phone calls and pictures. I woke up early at around 8 am to check on my sister, who had gone to the hospital at 6 am. By the time I spoke with her she had already gone into labor and was doing great! Basically she said it was kind of boring waiting around for the baby to get ready to see the world.

Why do I always picture Will Ferrell standing up with all kinds of goo on him and saying, "Man! It was hot in there!" - SNL skit.

At any rate, we kept in touch and at around 11:45 am she called and said the doctor just came in, said she was about half way there, and expected the little bugger by mid-afternoon. I started to get excited. I went through my daily routine of coffee, internet, coffee, book, shower, iron clothes, and drive to freakin' work. On my way to work at around 1:45 pm I was beginning to wonder what was going on, and at about that time my sister calls again. "Hey guess what....we had a baby!" She had had ol' AT at around 1:30 pm and said I was the first person she called. She had a very wonderful healthy baby, a quick labor, and no problems. Thank the lord for that. AT as 6 lb 8 oz, and 19 and one quarter in. long. With big round red fat cheeks.

I ended up telling everyone at work, I'm sure I was annoying, and the pictures I kept getting via cell phone were great. I'd forward them to my email and print them off. His eyes were wide open looking right up at the camera seeming to say, "What's that?"

So my sister's now a mother, my mother's a grandmother, my dad's a grandad, and my grandmother is a wonderful great grandmother. And we all have one more little family member to celebrate life with.

What a difference a day makes. Happy Birthday Grandmother, I'm an Uncle!