Monday, November 23,2015.
I Am A Grandfather.
In mid-morning, word filters down to me from Mary Ann's never-operating cellphone that The Call from Jude has arrived. Jude's wife Suzanne's first giving of birth is unambiguously underway. Mary Ann--who has flown to Los Angeles so she can be there to help--soon learns that the birthing room is closed to everyone except direct participants. Even grandmother's-to-be are excluded. Even when the grandmother had the required recent whooping cough vaccinations so she could be on the scene.
Mary Ann does get in there long enough to be impressed by the soon-to-be new mother. Suzanne is cool and under control. The nativity is free from major difficulties--the minor ones are unavoidable--but it goes on a bit longer than optimal.
At the end of it all, a healthy boy to be named Jackson enters the world. Mary Ann has the same opinion of Jackson that she had of Jude in similar circumstances. "That's the cutest little face I ever saw!" she says again. Jude, who is beaming with pride in his wife's sang-froid and his baby, says that Jackson does indeed favor him.
I learn most of this just as NPAS begins rehearsing Christmas songs. It's all I can do to keep myself from breaking into the song to tell everyone, "I'm a grandfather!" I tell everybody individually later.
What else is there to say about today? Oh, at lunch I had a plate of barbecue brisket, cole slaw and potato salad at Sweet Daddy's in Covington. Then I went to Acquistapace's to pick up dog food, sugar and milk. I returned home to host the radio show, after which the real action on heaven and earth as far as I was concerned was about the launching of a new generation of the people I am closest to.
When Jude was born--I was the second person who saw him--I had a momentary mental image of him as a wizened, feeble old man at the other end of his life's string. I'm glad that such a thought didn't cross my mind until just now. He really is cute, just like his father.
