Praying For Snow (HoL 15)

In the last three weeks, I’ve fixed a hot dog lunch for my office (It was my turn to “do” the January birthdays.), one of my co-workers was put in the hospital, Nancy and I made biscuits for the entire church from scratch, I’ve worked at Habitat for Humanity and Greensboro Urban Ministries, we’ve hosted a dinner for a church program, I’ve had a deacon’s meeting , I’ve made a sock monkey, and all three of us made a weekend road trip to Virginia Beach to visit great-grandparents. In the next few weeks, I’m going to run youth activities at the church, and we are going to host nine family and friends at our house for Isaac’s dedication weekend (not counting my folks who are staying at a hotel), along with the normal routine of laundry, house cleaning, feeding, washing, and de-worming Isaac, exercise, guitar practice and writing. I’d like to watch a movie or two in there and play some X-box as well.

I’d love to have a day or two to not do anything but play with the boy and his mother…what’s her name, but short of a snowy weekend, I just don’t think it will happen for a while. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, it only takes hold for a second or two, and is pushed out of my mind by gratitude for a healthy happy boy, a supportive, hot funny, heterosexual life partner, and a job that doesn’t involve picking up cigarette butts with a former crackhead named Regis.

Enough of my bitching and moaning. You want to hear about Isaac of course. He is sitting up pretty regularly now. He can roll over periodically. He laughs all the time. He has taken a shine to his Johnny Jump Up. It’s an indoor bungee jump for babies, and when he gets going it’s a stitch.

Isaac and I played our third practical joke together last Wednesday. We were eating dinner in the crowded fellowship hall at church. Isaac was sleeping in his car seat, balanced on a chair. Three quarters of the way through dinner, when most people were engrossed in their food or conversations, Isaac woke up. I quietly lifted him out of the car seat and sat him on my left side. With my right hand, I flipped the car seat off the chair and it landed perfectly, face down with a loud “Whomp”. Nancy was in on the joke (Hey, I’m no idiot), and although she tried to give me a disapproving look, I could tell she thought it was funny.

I bought him a Carolina Panthers outfit on E-bay, unfortunately, it’s now a “Onesie of Shame”.

Taking care of Isaac is a chore that I really look forward to. I’m the bath man, and do half the feedings and diapers. I really like spending time with him. I actually feel sorry for the generations of men who didn’t take time to be with their babies. When I look at his pictures on my desk at work, I get excited about going home and seeing him.

I have an Andy Warholesque shrine to Isaac on my book shelf at work. I have five photocopies of one picture of Isaac taped up in a pattern on one side of my cube.

Isaac was great for the car ride to and from Virginia Beach. He and I slept and played and sang. One of my conditions for going on the trip was that I wasn’t going to drive in Virginia. Virginia cops’ radar guns aren’t calibrated right and that’s all I have to say about that. We visited Nancy’s grandmother, grandfather and aunt Gail. It was a treat to see Mr. Head, now 98, playing and making funny noises with Isaac. He shared stories with me about traveling the world as a cabin boy on three different freight ships, and winding up in America by accident. Mrs. Head is normally fairly quiet and doesn’t hear very well, but she lit up like a Christmas tree when Isaac came in the room. We stayed at a hotel on the beach, and enjoyed a sunrise over the water from the sixth story balcony. Isaac seemed to really like the seagulls. It was very windy last weekend, and the gulls would seemingly “hover” at eye level next to us and then swoop off . I hope he keeps that sense of wonder about nature and the ocean in particular as he grows up.

Just to remind everyone, Isaac’s dedication is February 5th, Superbowl Sunday. If you are able to, please join us at College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro at 11:00 that morning, and stay for lunch and dessert afterwards.

Strength and Honor,

Big Matt