New kid on the block

I'm sitting on one of those large exercise balls people use to work out with for a day or two before they roll them into a corner. This one is fitted into a desk chair frame of some sort so it doesn't roll around or bounce your butt right off. It's comfy and easy on the cheeks but it makes you sit up straight backed and perky like. I'm not sure that's the right fit for my corkscrew spine and lazy mind. I think I'll write faster than usual.

Here's a word about the miracle of birth...Yikes! If all miracles were this messy, bloody and painful we wouldn't hold them in anything close to the high regard we now do. Miracles would be up there with dentistry and bone resetting on the scale of desirability.

"Aunt Sally's sinking fast, I'm praying for a miracle.

"You never did like Aunt Sally, did you?"

Of course at the end of the birth miracle you do get a nice reward. Once you've wiped off the slime and the blood you get a crying poop machine you can love for the rest of your life. The latest one of those in our family, Jackson Walton Hyde, made his appearance on the big stage at 1:26 p.m. November 3rd to a big round of applause, his mom's "Oh my god oh my god!", his dad's look of wonderment and, in the distant background, his new gramps saying, "alrighty then!" Jackson himself seemed to take it all in stride apart from a couple of facial expressions that could be read as "Whoa Dude" and "It's cold out here."

There were a number of interesting things that happened before Jackson made his debut that I will detail at a later date. I am recovering from shock and awe and an airplane cold and don't really feel up to the task at this moment. The highlight though, was when the heavy set woman doctor crouched over center like an NFL quarterback, put her hands up where, fortunately, my view was blocked and said something that could have been hike but probably wasn't and a second later took a one step drop and reappeared with the ball, I mean the baby in her hands. A smooth handoff was then made to the mom and somewhere, on some scoreboard, points were awarded.

Go Jackson!