Gavriela. It’s her birthday today! Poor kid. Today is the last day of finals. But she finished her last project yesterday and today is time to celebrate!
She is SUCH a wonderful young woman. So determined. And so valiant! I love the look on her face as she rides this horse! And to think that I almost didn’t have her!
But Eliana, also a young woman of great determination and valiance, wanted a little sister or brother. And so did Gary! But I just didn’t think I could come home from work, make dinner and then give TWO kids a bath and put them to bed! But then I had a brilliant idea. Skip the baths! And you know what? Gary was the one who had the idea to have kids in the first place. Now, I will always keep him at a distance out of a strong sense of self-preservation, Don’t worry, for graduations and major life events like that, I’ll use Meryl Streep in “It’s Complicated” as my model for that. Well, not the part where she sleeps with the ex—although there would be a certain poetic justice in that! If you haven’t seen it, at least watch the previews. For someone like me, it’s deliciously delightful! But back to my girls and giving credit where credit is due. I had thought he was joking when we were living together and he first suggested I not renew my birth control pill prescription. But he wasn’t. And miracle of miracles, we had Eliana! Now, as it turned out, baths were rather central to having Gavriela. The little baby tub we’d used for Eliana stayed in our upstairs bathroom even after she’d outgrown it. Gary told me after we had Gavriela that he’d look at the tub every day and wish we had another baby to put in it. Sweet, huh? Of course, I’m not going to get too carried away by sentiment, This was the very same guy who got in a fight with my ob/gyn every visit. I’d be like, I do you HAVE to come? And those fights continued into the delivery room, which is one reason why my epidural came too late to catch up with the labor pains. But it did make a for one helluva birth, according to the main nurse. We had a student nurse observing, and the senior nurse said it was a dynamite first birth for her to see. I certainly did swear my head off! But it was SO worth it! All in all, well worth it all the way around. Two miracle babies. And I am so damn happy to be able to celebrate Gavriela’s birthday, even though it’s remotely.
The five of us were in Oberlin, OH February 5th and I called Gav, but she didn't answer. We wanted her to join us for dinner. Please wish her a Happy Belated Birthday from all of us.
❤️ Vicki