Tag: birthday

WordPress Birthday

Apparently today is this blog account’s fourth birthday.

The content stretches back to 2006 and includes a MySpace blog, two blogger blogs, two WordPress.com blogs, and a medium blog, but this particular account turns four today.

Happy birthday. You’re old enough for preschool now. Should I change the theme again to celebrate?

More Stuff

Not to be left out of the birthday fun, my nephew is 10 today. Double digits. He’s a mini-me. He’s lucky in two ways. If you’re going to have the misfortune of looking like me, it’s good that you didn’t lose your curly hair the way I did, and also it’s extra lucky that you’re skinny while I was already well on my way to being a fat ass by the time I was 10. He is keeping all the good stuff that I had when I was little. He’s also hysterically funny and he’s not afraid of his own shadow. Two things I didn’t have at 10. So basically, if you eliminate all the stuff that I was bad at when I was 10 you have my nephew. He’s awesome and I love him and I hate that I haven’t been able to visit in forever. I am so sick of the pandemic. It’s killing me.

My father showed some improvement on Tuesday. On Wednesday he seemed to take a bit of a step back but was still better than he had been. Today the word is he seems to have improved a little bit again. We have tentative plans for next steps starting next week. It’s all scary.

We should have the bedroom done tomorrow night… assuming we don’t come up with any new ideas. The mattress is going to be the killer. We have plans in place though. The kitchen stuff starts coming next week. Next weekend is going to be another crazy furniture assemble-fest.

I made a works in progress playlist for RPM. Still not 100% invested yet. Maybe if I can get some guitar parts down it will trigger me. Maybe.

https://hearthis.at/roberjames1971/set/rpm2021-works-in-progress/

I haven’t played with blog themes yet. I browsed a little before bed last night. We’ll have to book some time soon. I have so many reminders in my phone right now. I have to schedule everything with myself or I forget everything.

I’m tired and sad and I want everything to go back to normal and I want it now.

Birthday Part 2

I don’t know if I’ve told this story here or not… I’ve probably told it 100 times but I can’t even remember what I had for lunch yesterday never mind if I wrote a blog post about something that happened 14 years ago or not.

Back in 2007 when Jen and I first started dating, she had a rule that we needed to stick to. Anyone she dated had to be around for six months before they were allowed to meet the kids. I liked that rule, not because I was insanely nervous about meeting the kids (I was, of course) but because it was a sign to me that she cared more about them than anything in the world including any potential new relationships she might find herself in. It meant that the kids came first, and she wasn’t going to let them get attached to someone who might not be around for the long haul.

Six months later we were still going strong and the day came when I was to meet Bellana and Harry. The plan was to go to a Chuck E Cheese near my office in Framingham after work. Obviously I was terrified. I had zero experience with kids and if they hated me right off the bat it was all going to be over for me and Jen. She told me that Bellana (age six) was a little more outgoing and probably would be more interested in me. Harry (age four) was a little more shy and would probably clam up.

We met outside of the building so that we could all go in together. It went exactly the opposite of how we expected. Bellana hid behind her mother and was very shy. Harry, with all the confidence in the world, walked right up to me and asked if I wanted to see a paper he had worked on in pre-school that morning. He was completely fearless.

By the end of the evening both kids seemed comfortable with me and I was already loving them. They accepted me right away, and they accepted the idea of me and their mother being together right away. I can’t thank them enough for that. Even now, 14 years later, I am pretty stunned at how well that night went. I will never forget it, and I will also never forget that Harry was the first one to welcome me into the family. I love both of those kids more than I ever dreamed I could love anyone.

Once again, happy 18th birthday, Harry.

Birthday

Today is my step son Harry’s 18th birthday. I am so proud of him. He has grown up to be a fine man. He is smart, he is kind, he is caring, he is considerate, he is funny, he is charming, he is woke like a boss (which is nice). The last year has been a complete shit show but he’s managing it well. He’s going to be leaving for college in August and that is painful to think about so I don’t think about it, for now. I love him more than I can express and I can’t wait to see the great things he accomplishes in the future. Happy Birthday, Harry.