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| Yep, I'm Your Grandpa |
All of you who are sick and tired of hearing
me crow about my new granddaughter should stop reading at this point; it’s
about to get really thick. In order to meet this remarkable young lady I had to
get up at 3:00am to journey to Boston. This wouldn’t have been as problematic
if I didn’t stay up until 11:30pm Tuesday night looking for my airplane ticket.
Yeah I know it’s all electronic now but it’s still kind of important to know
what time your plane is scheduled to leave. It only took twenty minutes
listening to musak waiting for an actual human on the American Airlines
customer “service” line.
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| Wingman! Definitely not in New England Anymore |
I did find the drive into Boston at
3am a lot less fettered than the usual kicking and punching. Logan is so much
easier to get to since the Big Dig (yes something good did come out of that
fiasco). The wait for the bus in the frigid temps weren’t that bad. I think it’s
all about the destination. When you have something so highly anticipated waiting
for you – getting there is almost fun. I swore I would never fly American Airlines
(and their legendary customer service) again but they were the most convenient
and cheap so I abandoned my lofty principles in the wake of those facts.
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| The "Highly Anticipate" Part - All of 1 Week Old |
I’m only coming for three days so I
thought I could get away with a small backpack (my wardrobe will never make any
best dressed lists) but that was before the baby gifts starting appearing from
friends and family requiring full sized
suitcase. The new daddy, Wingman his own self, was waiting for me at LAX and we
were shortly on the road to Glendale.
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| But Of Course She's Perfect! |
It seemed every place we drove by
reminded me of some movie scene (movie geek that I am). La La land is like
that. Wingman spent the time we negotiated the traffic through central LA with
a blow by blow description of my granddaughter’s birth day, eerily reminiscent of
her mother’s own arrival. After driving by a series of motels I’m sure were in
the last Ray Donovan season we turned into some beautiful tree lined streets
and the meeting with the First Blog Reader. She was generously awake when we
walked in and I was genuinely overcome immediately upon meeting her. I’ve
written before that I didn’t think I’d have this experience again. That special
feeling when you meet one of your children for the first time. The subsequent generation
had no mitigating factor whatsoever. We just stood there (well I did most of the
standing) and contemplated each other. This young lady stands a good chance of reaching
the 22d century and here she was staring at her grandfather, whose own
grandfather was born in 19th. Strange the thoughts that course
through your mind when emotions run as high as they were yesterday.
Unconditional love really smacks you upside the head when you experience it in
such a rush. Of course I think she’s perfect, but that’s my job as grandfather
(I’m figuring it out as we go).
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| Meeting my Granddaughter Surrounded by her Parents |
Of course I don’t want to minimize
just how good it was to see my Favorite Panamanian and the Cali-Daughter (and proud
mommy) again. My personal life, which seemed so desolate over the last month
(except for the occasional pub crawl) was suddenly brimming with life again!
They had plans for showing me around the
neighborhood but I didn’t want to leave the side of the littlest angel. I was surprised
(once again) at just how small a one-week old baby is, despite her impressive birth
weight. I know to anyone not immediately related to a small baby would be bored
with hanging around with a small person who’s only talents consists of eating,
sleeping, and defecating but I was captured from the moment I saw her.
The grandparents were called upon for babysitting
duty in the afternoon as my daughter had her post-op doctor’s appointment. This
was the first time she’d been away from her daughter since birth so there were
some tears involved (I don’t think it was due to fear at leaving us in charge
but I can’t be sure). We received several text over the next couple hours
checking up on us but, of course, this wasn’t our first rodeo. I’m not saying I’m
not a little rusty in the baby care department but I had the Favorite Panamanian
to handle all the tough parts.
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| The Finger Grab |
We did a video call with my favorite son
and the ABFA in the evening and it really seemed like the whole family was
together for the first time. I can only guess they were as impressed with the
First Blog Reader as I am. While Wingman was burping her she grabbed onto my
finger (a strong gal) and my heart melted all over again. At this point it’s reaching
the boiling point.
I was determined to vanquish jet lag
and vowed to stay up late with Wingman after the ladies retired for the night
but by 9 o’clock the past twenty-four hours descended in full force. It was a
very long day but I can’t think of one where I’ve been happier. I’m so proud of
the new parents.
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| Alright, I may Have Reached Over a Little |
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| Going to to be Tough to Leave this Princess |
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