It Has Been a Good Week!

The Best:


My core family was together for the first time since Lillian & Michael got married in August 2006, and now with the addition of lovely Alice there are six of us.  Wonderful brunch on the Georgetown waterfront at the Sequoia restaurant deck.  Outstanding weather, dragon boat races out of Thompson's Boat House and good family fellowship.  This was followed by a wonderful dinner at Argia's in Falls Church where Henry, who works there, was a most gracious host to 14 of my siblings, offspring, and friends all gathered to welcome Alice into the extended Lacy family.

The Good:

I finished up the redesign and rebuilding of my 30' trellis that collapsed during the big snow of February.  I was hoping it would take a week, but it took two (and I still have cleanup to do).  It took longer partly because I underestimated the amount of work involved but frankly more because my body is no longer able to do what it used to do.  Nevertheless, it's done, and I was able to save a good, healthy portion of the climbing hydrangea that had fully covered the old trellis.

The Ugly:

A swollen red Lone Star tick bite.  Unfortunately, the Lone Star tick is one of several species that carries Lyme disease and they seem to drop out of trees this time of year.  Like Texas, Lyme disease ain't to be messed with and I'm not totally convinced that I got rid of my first bout with it in 2004; it has a nasty way of going dormant and hiding under deep cover.  This was the first of five or so Lone Stars I've found my body hosting this year but the first to have really latched on.  So I had to spend virtually the whole morning yesterday to get a prophylactic Doxycycline prescription.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it only required one 200 mg dose rather than a full two week cycle and unpleasantly reminded about how much time doctors take up of one's life with aging.  On the other hand, I would probably be more comfortable had the doctor chosen an overkill kind of strategy, like Collin Powell's approach to the first Gulf War.  Beware the Lone Star tick with its very distinctive white lone star on its back.

Six reasons for loving the spring season:

Grand Fatherhood

I became a grandfather last Monday.  The news arrived iPhone-to-iPhone from my breathless, thrilled son-in-law.  I was on Rt. 301 about 20 miles north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge when his image flashed on my screen to the tune of Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire."  I was driving at a somewhat reckless speed, hoping to arrive at St. Vincent's Hospital in lower Manhattan in time for the big event.  But little Alice Lee wasn't about to wait -- not even for a doctor let alone a grandfather.  Thank God midwife Barri was on hand...

Interestingly, my daughter's labor and delivery of Alice mirrored my wife's at my daughter's birth -- very fast and efficient (and believe you me that matures into a personality trait).  At least they both had the courtesy of waiting until they were in the hospital before breaking loose.

This is neat stuff, grandfather-hood, and even neater the grand fatherhood of it all.  Daughter grows up and becomes a mother to swell my pride in an otherwise sedate existence.  Even Celexa couldn't hold this one back!