so here it is...my birthday has come and gone...again..what a year. I can't help but reflect on how many things changed this year and how incredible it has all been. I will admit that for some reason, this birthday was a it harder than previous, but only because I let it get to me a bit..the age thing...not the fact that I am getting older, just how i can't believe that I am actually 37. that just seems weird. it seems surreal...anyway, I am...so there...my life is blessed with so many amazing people. My family, My wife to be, my friends, my art, my health...it is all part of the package. Thank you...everyone that came to my party, everyone that wrote me, everyone that called, everyone that thought of me...I was really reminded of how many friends i have and how awesome that is...ok..so here is an amazing piece of writing from my mom written for my birthday...i think you'll enjoy it...thanks mom..i love you! It is 37 years ago and about 6:45am on March 22nd 1972 in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. In a delivery room,overlooking Lake Michigan, I am entering the
home stretch of birthing your father's and my first child.
We don't know then but in exactly 2 hours and 45 minutes you will alight
into the world.
Dr Azcueta (the Phillipino "trained in the bush" doctor) is thrilled with my
progress and my fully natural childbirthing experience. She is all smiles,
loving, gentle and wise. She inquires if she might bring in 9 student
nurses whom she is training for assisting in birthing. She wants them to
experience, first hand, what Natural Childbirthing looks and sounds like. At
the time, the Lamaze Method was just beginning to be utilized in the
American women's world of natural labor.
I seem to be effortlessly riding the tumultuous waves of contractions;
pant-blowing to beat the band. I am young, healthy, strong and noticeably
exhilarated with the whole experience. I am deeply in love with your father
and begin to see signs of his nervousness...I don't know until later that he
is beginning to be very nervous that his years of doing LSD has him
terrified that you might have four legs and seven fingers on each hand when
you finally break the waves and beautifully surface into our lives.
At 8:45am, I will enter the 'pushing phase' of labor. With each contraction,
I am to pull myself up, hold my breath and push will all my maternal might.
With her 'native guidance' I begin the final phase of guiding you into a
sunny Spring morning of the rest of your life. With each push, I rise up to
see 9 wide-eyed nurses faces; each smiling and in their own way marveling at
the miracle of your eminent arrival. They cheer and beseech my unwavering
stamina (as only the female tribe can) with each full-hearted push I expend.
At exactly 9:30am you slip out of heaven and into the earth world of
mysterious lights and sounds and untold adventures of the whole of your new
and "old soul" precious existence.
Your father and I weep tears of unfathomable joy (as do all 9 nurses) when
the doctor places you on my stomach. And, no, you do not have four legs and
seven fingers on each hand. To your father's relief, you are a blue-eyed
7lb, 16oz light-haired and fuzzy headed bundle of miraculous perfection. We
have a son (the first born, a male, which in the Italian tradition portends
a very good omen). You, the 'temple treasure' of children, have taken your
first breath (without the unnecessary slap on the butt) and begin the
sojourn of delights, the journey of a thousand expressive faces and
feelings. You are cradled and nursed 'on-demand' and spared the unnatural
experience of having to lay in a communal nursery apart from your mother. Dr
Azcueta sees to it that you are allowed to stay with me from morning and
through the night, an unheard of practice in hospital protocols in that day
and age. Grace and mercy are your middle names and follow you well into your
37th year.
Today, I wish you more of the same as you venture into untold and yet to
come mysteries and magic, as you greet the day of beginning another soulfull
year of your blessing all that know and love you.
Dip your oars into the riverboat of Life and sail, sail on with reckless
abandon into a life still awaiting your untold arrivals into uncharted
waters of Love and Light, Joy and Sorrow. Rest assured, that whatever your
Fate, a host of angels and your family and friends will follow along side
you.
Wisconsin. In a delivery room,overlooking Lake Michigan, I am entering the
home stretch of birthing your father's and my first child.
We don't know then but in exactly 2 hours and 45 minutes you will alight
into the world.
Dr Azcueta (the Phillipino "trained in the bush" doctor) is thrilled with my
progress and my fully natural childbirthing experience. She is all smiles,
loving, gentle and wise. She inquires if she might bring in 9 student
nurses whom she is training for assisting in birthing. She wants them to
experience, first hand, what Natural Childbirthing looks and sounds like. At
the time, the Lamaze Method was just beginning to be utilized in the
American women's world of natural labor.
I seem to be effortlessly riding the tumultuous waves of contractions;
pant-blowing to beat the band. I am young, healthy, strong and noticeably
exhilarated with the whole experience. I am deeply in love with your father
and begin to see signs of his nervousness...I don't know until later that he
is beginning to be very nervous that his years of doing LSD has him
terrified that you might have four legs and seven fingers on each hand when
you finally break the waves and beautifully surface into our lives.
At 8:45am, I will enter the 'pushing phase' of labor. With each contraction,
I am to pull myself up, hold my breath and push will all my maternal might.
With her 'native guidance' I begin the final phase of guiding you into a
sunny Spring morning of the rest of your life. With each push, I rise up to
see 9 wide-eyed nurses faces; each smiling and in their own way marveling at
the miracle of your eminent arrival. They cheer and beseech my unwavering
stamina (as only the female tribe can) with each full-hearted push I expend.
At exactly 9:30am you slip out of heaven and into the earth world of
mysterious lights and sounds and untold adventures of the whole of your new
and "old soul" precious existence.
Your father and I weep tears of unfathomable joy (as do all 9 nurses) when
the doctor places you on my stomach. And, no, you do not have four legs and
seven fingers on each hand. To your father's relief, you are a blue-eyed
7lb, 16oz light-haired and fuzzy headed bundle of miraculous perfection. We
have a son (the first born, a male, which in the Italian tradition portends
a very good omen). You, the 'temple treasure' of children, have taken your
first breath (without the unnecessary slap on the butt) and begin the
sojourn of delights, the journey of a thousand expressive faces and
feelings. You are cradled and nursed 'on-demand' and spared the unnatural
experience of having to lay in a communal nursery apart from your mother. Dr
Azcueta sees to it that you are allowed to stay with me from morning and
through the night, an unheard of practice in hospital protocols in that day
and age. Grace and mercy are your middle names and follow you well into your
37th year.
Today, I wish you more of the same as you venture into untold and yet to
come mysteries and magic, as you greet the day of beginning another soulfull
year of your blessing all that know and love you.
Dip your oars into the riverboat of Life and sail, sail on with reckless
abandon into a life still awaiting your untold arrivals into uncharted
waters of Love and Light, Joy and Sorrow. Rest assured, that whatever your
Fate, a host of angels and your family and friends will follow along side
you.
