A Special Day

This is a special day. A Big C Birthday. Special to Chelsea….and forever special to us.

Chelsea, unfortunately, won’t be home to put in her menu request for the traditional birthday dinner. Her birthday dinner...when we sit around the table to celebrate Chelsea and to talk about the day Chelsea arrived.

Talk about how the morning of January 21st in Jacksonville, FL, I nervously said “PaulA…I think its time. I think I’m having a baby today.” How we called the doctor, dressed quickly, and grabbed the infamous blue suitcase I had packed 3 weeks earlier. How PaulA strapped me into our brown Saab 900s and took off, full-throttle…only to be pulled over by the police 1 mile down the road. How the police asked , “Where ya going in such a hurry, buddy?” and how PaulA replied, “Officer, you might not believe this, but my wife is in labor.” How the officer told PaulA, “Slow down. Get everybody there alive.” And how the officer escorted us to the front door of Baptist Hospital.

How Chelsea entered this world at 1:56 pm, weighing 7 lbs, 11ounces. How on January 21st, Chelsea made us deliriously happy, enormously ecstatic, wide-eyed, what do we do next, first-time parents.

Chelsea may not be with us on this special day, but Chelsea is with us.