{"id":150,"date":"2008-01-24T23:51:48","date_gmt":"2008-01-25T06:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/?p=150"},"modified":"2008-01-24T23:51:48","modified_gmt":"2008-01-25T06:51:48","slug":"an-anniversary-of-sorts-guest-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/an-anniversary-of-sorts-guest-post\/","title":{"rendered":"an anniversary of sorts – guest post"},"content":{"rendered":"

today is Nathaniel’s<\/a> third birthday.\u00c2\u00a0 Alexandra had to remind me at dinner time.\u00c2\u00a0 There is a lot going on: Patti is in Toronto at a conference, I am trying to run my business and take care of all the kid details at the same time…<\/p>\n

This is exactly what I don’t want to happen<\/strong>, and yet I feel it is inevitable.\u00c2\u00a0 I had a son.\u00c2\u00a0 I held him.\u00c2\u00a0 I kissed him.\u00c2\u00a0 Right now as I type, I can vividly see him in the dimly lit hospital room.\u00c2\u00a0 I remember where I was sitting and how I held him.\u00c2\u00a0 I remember the feelings of confusion and not knowing what to do, and not knowing how long I should hold him, and how quickly I should let him go.\u00c2\u00a0 I wish I had held him longer!\u00c2\u00a0 What I don’t want to do is forget all this.<\/p>\n

Now three quick years later, my 8 year old asked what we were doing for his birthday…\u00c2\u00a0(For the last two years, we have gotten helium balloons and written on them with permanent markers and said a few wishes and let them go.)\u00c2\u00a0 I want to be the father of 8… 4 living and 4 have moved on…<\/p>\n

Life has a way of moving on and focusing on the present realities, or even on present opportunities, but makes light of past actualities.\u00c2\u00a0 Things have happened that have defined me, have become a part of me, have taught me all about compassion in a way\u00c2\u00a0I wish I were still ignorant it… but in the here and now, I (we) focus on what is in front of us, or what is currently required of us.<\/p>\n

In the first year since Nathaniel, not a day went by that I did not think of him.\u00c2\u00a0 Now three years later on his birthday, I did not think of him once, until\u00c2\u00a0I was reminded.\u00c2\u00a0 I guess that is how life goes, but I don’t like it… HE IS MY SON!<\/p>\n

—————————————-<\/p>\n

Nathaniel,<\/p>\n

I miss you.\u00c2\u00a0 I see three year olds, and I know you would have been taller.\u00c2\u00a0 Your brothers and sisters were all big for their age.\u00c2\u00a0 I miss knowing who you would have become.\u00c2\u00a0 I miss knowing how much like your mom you were and how much like me.\u00c2\u00a0 In so many ways I am glad I got to hold you; to kiss you.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve fought in my mind to keep you present in my mind and in my heart, but I haven’t done as well as I would have liked.<\/p>\n

You are my son!\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing can take that away!\u00c2\u00a0 No matter how long you lived, you\u00c2\u00a0are my son.\u00c2\u00a0 No matter how well behaved, you are my son.\u00c2\u00a0 No matter what you attained, no matter what mistakes, no matter how hard you tried or how little, you are my son.\u00c2\u00a0 There is nothing that you could do to become more of a son, and there is nothing you could have done to become less of a son.\u00c2\u00a0 And so you get what sons (and daughters) get… my love.\u00c2\u00a0 My sons and daughters get all the love I have, unconditionally!\u00c2\u00a0 I know that you can see me from where you are and I know that you know my thoughts.<\/p>\n

I love you.\u00c2\u00a0 Happy birthday.
\nDAD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

today is Nathaniel’s third birthday.\u00c2\u00a0 Alexandra had to remind me at dinner time.\u00c2\u00a0 There is a lot going on: Patti is in Toronto at a conference, I am trying to run my business and take care of all the kid details at the same time… This is exactly what I don’t want to happen, and … Continue reading “an anniversary of sorts – guest post”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,10,5,23,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birthdays","category-jon","category-life","category-nathaniel","category-special-days"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}