We were up at our Oxbrook Lake Camp as of July 3rd at dark, intending to stay until the 13th, But word came on the morning of the 5th that oldest daughter Erika, mother of four-year-old twins, was right on the point of having her Ruthie Mae Lea-Simons– a month early. We repacked in a hurry and drove the eight hours back to look after those twins for a few days. Mom and her baby got home on the 6th, and both are healthy as horses.
We are lucky enough as to reschedule without a whole lot of hassle, so will be gone this time from the 16th till the 28th of this month, Access to the Internet is pretty much noniexistent where we'll be, so I will likely fall silent a while.
I can't explain why grandfatherhood (and Ruthie makes us that five-fold now) should be so bracing, reassuring, and somehow peace-inducing. Nor would I ever have thought I'd love it as much as I do...and I expected to love it plenty. I think seeing a family into a third generation gives one a sense that things will somehow endure, no matter how we humans try to make that feel impossible. That Ruthie's birth date anticipated our own 31st anniversary by a mere three days seemed to us auspicious as well. We'd had some other form of celebration in mind than changing diapers and chasing kids around on their bikes, but then, what would have been better in the end?
