I Am A Grandfather--Update

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Saturday March 12, 2011 · 6:50 AM PST

2011/03/12 · 06:50

Last weekend I published a diary titled "I Am a Grandfather," in which I described the health challenges that lay ahead for my newborn grandson. He was born with a congenital heart defect called Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA). This meant that the main arteries into and out of his heart were connected backwards from a normal heart, and if left untreated, the possibility of a long life are basically nil. This past Monday, my grandson underwent a five-hour surgery to correct his TGA and a related constriction in his aorta.

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I Am a Grandfather

peterj911

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Sunday March 06, 2011 · 11:51 AM PST

2011/03/06 · 11:51

I am a grandfather. My first grandchild—grandson—was born on Thursday afternoon. This is new to me. I’m not quite certain what to think about this just yet. First and foremost, I’m over-the-moon thrilled about it, of course. How can anyone not be? Here is a brand-new life, with all the promise and potential that represents. Continuation of the family line, and all that. Pride. Joy. On the other hand, I can’t believe that I have a child who is old enough to have a child of his own. For heaven’s sake, wasn’t he just born? It seems like yesterday, anyway. And on the third hand, even though in my own head I’m still about 25 years old, when I look in the mirror I’ve stopped seeing my own dad looking back at me and I now see my grandfather’s face. So I guess it makes sense. And when I looked at my grandboy’s face for the very first time, my heart very nearly melted. It was a transformative moment in my life.

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peterj911

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Wednesday July 11, 2007 · 12:02 PM PDT

2007/07/11 · 12:02

Paul Wellstone’s name is invoked frequently on this site. And for good reason—his was a voice of clarity and vision in an increasingly cloudy world, particularly so after the 2000 election. Senator Wellstone had, what seemed at the time, a unique ability to see beyond the hysteria of the post-9/11 drumbeats for war, and saw what many of us also saw, that the course the Bush administration was taking us was dangerous. Few other public voices at the time were able to articulate this in the manner he could, and it will be to our nation’s everlasting regret that we didn’t listen to those who did.

peterj911

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Thursday March 01, 2007 · 8:01 AM PST

2007/03/01 · 08:01

Ever since "An Inconvenient Truth" won its two Oscars(tm), I've been giving a great deal of thought about the significance of that event. I've been frustrated by the attempts to swiftboat Al Gore by the "Tennessee Center for Policy Research." On another website I visit, I had a short but spirited guestbook exchange with someone calling themself "Nicky Cage from Hollywood" about the validity of climate change ("Nicky" couldn't refute any of the statements I made, but simply referred to me as a "global warming fanatic").

But the Oscar(tm) win led me to start thinking about how that might help bring the issue to an even wider audience. I know, I know--to all of us it seems ridiculous to think that such a critical issue as climate change isn't in front of everyone every day, but I really don't think that's the case.

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I Am A Grandfather--Update

I Am a Grandfather

If Only . . . .

Evolution, Creation, and the Environment