To Our Daughter Bella, On The Occasion of Her First Anniversary

Dave sez~

Dear Bella,

Today marks your FIRST YEAR home!

I never thought I would ever get to be a dad. I decided I would be okay with that, and that I would develop other interests and hobbies to try and fill the hole I never really knew I had. Guys like cars. Guys like sports. Guys like movies with car chases and guns and lots of explosions. Some guys, like me, like science fiction, 'cos there's swords and space ships and battles and sometimes there are explosions. Sometimes there are monsters and dragons. The monsters and dragons get all slayed with swords in battles. Space ships have battles and they explode in big fireballs.

Your mother wanted children. I love your mom, so I wanted what she wanted. That's how life works. Then I realized that I wanted what she wanted for the same reasons. More because I wanted it and less because I wanted her to have what she wanted.

That was when we met your brother Justin. He came to us as a surprise. We were very surprised. Mom and I had gotten to where we didn't think we would ever be parents. I never thought I'd be a dad. Your brother came to us and I thought that I was blessed enough to have one child. A son. Now you've come home to us, and I realize just how generous our blessings are.

I never thought I would get to be a dad. Then I thought I was blessed enough. I am so glad that you've come home to Mom and me. You, and both your brothers keep me on my toes. There is never a moment when I am not setting an example. But, that is only half of it. The other half is that every moment that we all have together as a family is special. When it comes right down to it, the one thing we all have is our memories. Every moment builds on the one before it and stacks up under the next one.

We had a bit of a hiccup getting everything put together to bring you home last year. There was a small, simple typo. It took a little bit longer than we expected to bring you home. There was also the turmoil in Kiev and tension between Ukraine and Russia while we were there. But, we were able to be together. I will never forget what our facilitator Valentin said when we were done.

"She was worth waiting for, wasn't she?"

The waiting was very difficult, and I was very homesick. But when it is all said and done, it is worth the effort.

Every moment is special and every moment is precious. I'm so glad that we have them to share as a family, and memories to build. This passed year has been so exciting. I'm looking forward to many, many more with you, your brothers and Mom.

Happy anniversary, Bells.

Love,

Dad

The One About The Broken Arm

Edited by Cathy and Justin,

Dave sez,

I feel like a bad Dad.

No, not Billy Bob Thornton, in the 2003 Dimension Films, Buena Vista Pictures film Bad Santa - can you believe that film's getting a sequel!

I feel like a bad Dad.

"I'm a bad father."

Justin's a pretty tough kid. He plays soccer hard. He plays basketball hard. He was into karate for the sparring. He trampolines hard. Like any kid, he's ten feet tall and bulletproof. Indestructible. Any surprise that his favorite character is-

Along with Aang, Avatar: The Last Airbender and the characters from DragonballZ.

 

So, he was riding his bike home a few days ago, weaving and zig-zagging around, and he took a spill. He braced himself with his right hand when he went down. scraped up his shoulder and his knee. At first, his arm looked like a sprain. He could wiggle his fingers, but his forearm was a little swollen. Since he's a pretty tough kid, we gave him some aspirin and we kept an eye on the swelling and pain.

A tough kid, still complaining about his arm hurting, I took him to the Emergency Room for x-rays.

The x-rays showed a hairline fracture just above his right wrist. My heart sank. Sure enough, Justin had a broken arm.

The medical team did assure me that we did the right thing not to rush in right away; and it was a good thing we came in when we did. I still tend to angst over pert near everything... 

I'm not sure who took it harder. Our medical team walked Justin through the step of how he was going to get a cast on his broken wing. "We're going to give you a local anesthesia. Then we're going to numb the area of your arm."

"Is this gonna hurt?" Justin asked.

"We're going to give you a local anesthesia. Then we're going to numb the area of your arm. And then we'll put on a cast."

"Is this gonna hurt?"

No, buddy. Not a bit. They're going to give you an anesthetic, so you'll be all relaxed and you won't feel a thing. Then, they're going to numb the area of your arm so you won't even feel anything then. Then, they're going to put a cast on your arm so it mends and heals. What color do you want? Black? Blue? Hot Pink?

"Hot pink to impress the girls."

I was sitting next to his bed during the whole process. They gave him laughing gas. His has an unusually shaped face so it took some doing to get the mask right. I thought for sure they would get a helmet, so they could cover his whole head! Ha!

He finally relaxed and was floating on cloud nine. They numbed the area of his arm, and went to work.

While they were manipulating my son's forearm and snugging it inside the cast, I started to feel a little sweaty, cold and clammy, dizzy, light-headed and a little disoriented. That was probably the best time for me to look away, concentrate on my breathing and maybe put my head between my legs.

I asked for some water, and then some apple juice, too. Here's a picture: me in a bed, right next to my boy with the broken arm! Ha!

The good news is, we both pulled through with flying colors. Well, at least I did. Justin still has a broken arm in a hot pink cast. He can't play basketball, flag football, soccer, ride his bike or bounce on the trampoline for a while. It's not easy being grounded like this. Plus, he has to deal with me. I'd be more than happy to swaddle him in bubble wrap...just at least until he turns twenty-one.

We can't always do that, though, can we?

Our little "Boy of Steel" is finding some very simple tasks are a little more challenging now. Life is just a little more frustrating now.

We're all learning a little bit of patience.

  

Justin: My arm's broken!

Dad: Well, at least they didn't have to amputate... Psych!