Yesterday was not a scheduled blogging day for me but it was
a red letter day. What happened to make
December 1st so important, you might ask? Here are a few of the things. In 1913 Henry Ford began the first moving
assembly line. In 1955 Rosa Parks refused
to give up her seat on the bus to a white man resulting in her arrest and
started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The
underground transit system connecting England with continental Europe or
“Chunnel” was finished in 1990.
Celebrating birthdays were Grammy winning singer Bette Midler who was
born in 1945 and the late, great comedian Richard Pryor born in 1940. There was another birth of note on December 1st. She is not yet a star outside my home but her
melodramatics are worthy of the Academy’s attention. My oldest daughter turned 18 yesterday. Her birth was…unusual. At the time my wife wasn’t due for a couple of
weeks and we were going to have family over in the afternoon of Black Friday
for Thanksgiving as we lived a couple hours from the nearest relatives and I
had to work at 4 A.M. Friday morning as a manager for Montgomery Ward. Going to someone else’s on Thanksgiving was
not practical for my work schedule or my wife’s comfort. The baby had dropped and with it being our
second child, we knew it was wise to stay home.
I would be off work by the afternoon to help with dinner and our guests
on Friday. That was the plan. So I went to work and the other manager who
was supposed to open with me overindulged in the “spirit” of the holiday and
called in. I told the operator to hold
all manager calls as I would be the only one there to handle the masses. The doors opened at 6 A.M. and people began
to attack one another to try to get $29.99 roasters and $69.99 bread
makers. By 7 A.M. we were out of the
door busters and everyone wanted a piece of me.
A crowd of shoppers gathered yelling profanities that they did not
procure one of the desire items. As I
tried to calm the situation, the operator paged for me. I answered and said, “I told you to hold all
my calls.” The operator said, “It’s your
wife and she says it’s important.” I
took the call. She said, “Honey, do you
think you could, sort of like, come home?”
I told her I could not possibly and then asked why. She replied, “Well, I’m sort of in labor.” At that moment a woman was literally hitting
me with her purse to get my attention. I
said to my wife. “Sweetie, I love you,
but I need to know for sure or I will lose my job. Are in labor or not?” She became angry and said, “Why would I call
if I wasn’t in labor! What stupid
question. Why did I even bother calling
you? I should have called my mother.” I
told her to calm down and I would be home right away. When I hung up I called the operator and told
her to call the other manager and tell him he had 15 minutes to get into the
store (He lived 5 minutes away) or I was walking out and leaving the keys on
the office desk. I went about calming
down the crowd and took executive authority to issue rain checks. (I had the authority.) Then I headed for the back and put on my coat
and boots. 14 minutes after my call the
other manager walked in the door and I tossed him the keys, saying I was off to
the hospital. I went home and took my
wife to the hospital and waited all morning…and afternoon…and night. Saturday I received a call from work saying I
was going to be terminated for walking off the job without a good reason so I
reiterated to my wife, “No pressure here Babe but you’ve gotta produce a kid or
I’m out of work.” Her labor continued
all day Saturday and the doctors did nothing for her. Then Sunday morning my precious daughter
decided to enter the world around 11A.M.
I knew at once she would be a considerate girl because she made sure to
be born before the game of the week in football came on. Having learned from my son who hated me ever
since I was the one to pull him out of the little baby warmer right after
birth, I let the nurses pick her up and hand her to my wife. She screamed and cried until she was
tired. Only then did I pick her up and
we have been best pals ever since. From
being 9 pounds then to a grown woman now she will always be my baby. She goes to college next year. I hope it’s not too far away as everywhere
she goes, she takes part of my heart with her.
Happy Birthday Baby!
No comments:
Post a Comment