This diary consists of a couple of personal stories. Please join me below the fold. But first, let’s take care of the preliminaries:
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April 22, 1982
It was my first year in graduate school, my first year way from home. I was living in a studio apartment which was in the basement of a house. (It would take me years before I would finally stop making the mistake of renting basement apartments.) Early in the morning, my parents called me. I believe I was already up, getting ready to face the day. My parents informed me that I was an uncle! And they were grandparents! In the wee hours of the morning, my sister had given birth to a boy. We knew since my sister had announced her pregnancy that a baby was coming, but back in the days before ultrasounds, there was no way to tell which sex the baby was going to be. As it happened, my sister and brother-in-law would eventually have three boys total. (I think my mother was only slightly disappointed, because she loved baby girls so much.)
As it turned out, I was to be not just the uncle (and, in fact the only uncle, as I was my sister’s only sibling, and my brother-in-law was an only child), I was also tapped to be his godfather. (Cue the music...) I no longer recall the details of that day clearly, but I seem to remember that at the mass where my nephew was baptized, there was something like 10 babies. This was at the beginning of the baby boomlet, the echo of the post-war baby boom, as the boomers themselves started having children. We didn’t know it at the time, but my father would pass away in early July, just a month after the baptism. His badly damaged heart finally gave out. But at least he lived to hold his first grandchild.
That nephew now works for Apple and lives in the bay area. He took after his uncle in being gay, though as far as I know, he hasn’t come out to his family. I send him a birthday card every year (usually a little late) with a gift, as I do with all three of my nephews. After all, I am their only uncle.
April 29, 2016
Modes of communication have changed dramatically in the intervening 30 years. I was responding to an e-mail from my aunt, who occasionally sends forwarded e-mails with accounts of odd or weird occurrences and asks if they’re true. (At least she no longer sends me the radioactive political crap she used to send—she knows better than to do that now.) So I answer her questions, hit send, and a reply comes back immediately. She congratulates me on becoming a great uncle. I say, “Huh? In order for me to become a great uncle, somebody had to be pregnant, and as far as I know, nobody’s pregnant.” As yet, none of my nephews are married, though my middle nephew has set a date for this coming August. So what’s all this talk about becoming a great uncle? My aunt replies again, saying, “It’s true, check your in-box,” and sure enough, there’s an e-mail from my sister with the whole explanation and photos. My youngest nephew dated a young woman last summer, though it didn’t work out and they went their separate ways, still friends though. But then the young woman discovered that she was pregnant, and she decided she was going to have the baby. My nephew, who is pretty tight-lipped with the rest of the family regarding his love life, didn’t tell anybody until the young woman was getting close to her due-date. (In addition to his being tight-lipped in general, there’s also the fact that this is the first out-of-wedlock birth in our family that I’m aware of. And I know that my sister would give him what-for.) The baby girl whose picture is at the top was born on April 26, but we weren’t told until April 29. She is adorable, and it’s too bad my mother is no longer around so that she could dote on that granddaughter she had always wanted. Even my very grumpy sister has come around—really no choice with such a sweet baby. Hubby knitted a pink baby hat and mittens, and we’ve since received a very cute photo of her wearing the hat.
So the start of the new generation was a big surprise with an unorthodox beginning, but a sweet new life is launched, and everybody gets a new title. I’ll view this as a promotion and not think about the other implications.
Now, on to the comments!
Top Comments (May 19, 2016):
From Crashing Vor:
When quaoar points out the irony of Donald Trump accusing someone else of rape, TrueBlueMajority designs the button of the year. From Laura Clawson’s front page post Donald Trump accuses not-Hillary of rape.
From Jon Sitzman:
This comment by SottoVoce is one of the best descriptions of how hard trailblazers have to work for all the people they help and support who tread behind them. Awesome tribute to President Barack Obama, and Secretary of State (soon to be President) Hillary Clinton. From floridageorge’s recommended post Robert Reich to Bernie folks: “Don’t denigrate/demonize Hillary. (If nom) “work like hell for her.”
Top Mojo (May 18, 2016):
Top Mojo is courtesy of mik! Click here for more on how Top Mojo works.
Top Pictures (May 18, 2018):
Tonight’s picture quilt is courtesy of jotter!
(Unfortunately, the photo of jbou could not be included because permission were not set to allow it to be displayed here.)