I lived in Seattle when Mark and I got the news that - sure enough - my barfing and mood swings and tiredness and soreness was for a good cause. I was pregnant with our second baby.
We had a problem, though. Mark simply could not find the kind of work that he had trained for in the Navy. He ran boilers - which were becoming obsolete.
Dawn and Mike lived in Ojai, California. We moved to Ojai, California.
My pregnancy went super-just-fine. I babysat to help with finances. And by saying I babysat, there was a time that I had 13 kids under the age of two ruling the house. Eventually it did even out, some left, and my regulars prevailed.
It was a Tuesday, Mark went to work, and I stayed on the couch. I just didn't feel good. I still had two weeks until my due date. Goose had a different plan. (Surprise) He was ready to greet Dad, admire Tyson, kiss his mom and familiarize himself with the surrounding world.
Mark came home at lunch and found me in the same spot. Ick. "Make your own dang lunch." I had phoned and sworn off tending that day and only Tyson was running around the house. He would check on me by grabbing my face with his fat toddler finger. "You okay mommy?" "Yes, Tyson, I'm fine." And off he'd run to avenge the world from the bad guys.
Around 2:00 I called Mark. "I can't stand it any longer. I'm having this baby."
I'd like to say that Mark was calm, cool, and collected. However, I'd be lying. He wasn't even close to calm.
Mark raced home, grabbed a grocery sack, threw some clothes in for Tyson, strapped him into the car, walked me down to the car, sped to the gals house that had agreed to keep Tyson while I was in the hospital, honked to let her know Tyson was there and - get this - LEFT HIM STANDING IN THE ROAD while we sped off. No, I'm not kidding. Gula (the gal watching Tyson) was running out of the door, so I assume that Mark saw her and thought all was fine. But HOLY HANNAH, Dude, CALM DOWN.
We made it to Ojai Valley Community Hospital with 7 hours to spare. The fun began.
Goose was BY FAR the worst labor of all five kids. OHMYGOSH! Awful doesn't describe it. However, labor does come to an end and at 9:46 pm, the doctor announced that we had a boy.
Mark has helped deliver each of our kids, witnessed their first breath and has been able to cut the umbilical cord - forcing them to live. I love that. I'm so very grateful that the first thing they feel is their father's love. And then? I found myself holding a beautiful, blue eyed, golden haired baby boy and had already forgotten how much it hurt to bring him here.
The other day, Mark and I were driving and we were talking about Goose turning thirty. Mark said, "I still remember him sitting on the bed, playing his guitar."
I think that's my memory of Goose, as well. Mark played guitar and his practice buddy would be right beside him. Goose had a red, plastic guitar. He would grab a rope and pretend to plug his guitar into the television (that was his amp) and he would sit for hours and "play". At the time, we used the VCR to record anything on television, and the only way I could get Goose to quiet down for nap time was to play his favorite videos from MTV (back when MTV played music videos).
I read to Tyson. Goose sang and watched videos.
You might be asking "What is the POINT?" and my answer is "I'm not sure." I can't wrap this all up in a pretty package with a bow on top.
How - oh how - does anyone put THIRTY years of success, failure, honor, kindness, absurdity, humor, integrity, stubbornness and LOVE - more love than a human has a right to receive - in a few short paragraphs?
I can't.
I was digging in my file trying to find Kadell's birth certificate. I found his "hospital" certificate and on the back were his teeny, tiny footprints.
I think about footprints. And this thought leads me to my Goose. Not his "man" footprints, but these prints made from the newly born, wonder-filled, boy with the world at his feet.
Ernest Ayemang Yeboah said:
"True success is not the end of the journey; true success is a journey without an end. So many people relax after achieving something and they forget the undone. They neglect their untapped destiny and they halt their journey of life not reaching their real and true destination. Whilst we have life, we must live life. Whilst we have life, we must give a true meaning to life. Whilst we have life, we must dare to do the undone; though the road is weary; though we may be having a sense of fulfillment, and though we might have done something! Let us awake and pursue with all zeal and tenacity until we get to the real end of our true purpose and destiny, such that long after we are gone, the voice of our footprints will speak to inspire, build and raise a generation of champions!"
Right Here. These are the footprints that will speak.
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