Little Man's Celebration

VMc and Ronda celebrated Little Man's birthday on April 4. He's like in the tenth percentile on growth charts and has been walking since about month seven. He looks like a little man taking on all the world has to offer.

Cowboys were celebrating much just before he was born. Our team had just beat the No. 3 and No. 1 seeds in the East Regional and was headed to San Antonio for the Final Four.

Although OSU has had its share of success, we still sometimes feel like "George Mason" at the party. Welcomed, but not really supposed to be there. But with only three losses, we were kind of favored. The semi-final loss in the last second to Georgia Tech left us shocked.

It was a fun ride! And two days later, Little Man arrived. Being born on 04-04-04 when the Cowboys went to the Final Four is a story we will tell for a long time. This picture is at 10 months, February 2005, at one of his first OSU basketball games in Stillwater.

It was about 3:30 a.m. on April 4, 2005 when the step monster called to say my father passed away. It wasn't a shock. He had been ill and in the hospital. Still, I ended up spending the next few hours lying there, staring at the ceiling, thinking, pondering, getting older. By 8 a.m. I was on the road to Tulsa to go to the funeral home. That night, I was in Norman celebrating Little Man's first birthday. Experiencing death and celebrating life all in one day.

Dad had long told me and clearly instructed us that his wishes were to have no visitation, no funeral, no flowers, no attention, no obit, no memorials, no expenses. It almost made sense. When the time came, it was awkward, a little selfish on his part, but still his wishes. It also made it so that there wasn't much to do.

I thought it would be simple going back to work and "moving on." But getting back to the day-to-day routine so quickly actually made things tougher. The hug and comfort I needed came in an arrangement of orange flowers from MegMacB delivered to work and a security guard asking if I was going to be OK. If you look closely in the pic, in the bottom right corner is the reflection of Eponine's white water bowl.

Dad and I weren't necessarily "close," but we got along and admired each other. I still miss him. Nothing at all like I miss my Eppy, strangely enough, but I miss him nonetheless.

Life goes on and now the Little Man is two!