Happy Birthday Ben

Last night I took my binoculars out into the back yard and tried to find Lulin. I may have seen it but more than likely I was looking at Saturn. It was bright and in the general area where I think I was supposed to look but I couldn't see a tail, only a bright light. It also didn't look green like it is supposed to. Lulin was first discovered by a Chinese teenager and this is the first time it has come to the inner solar system. It is also the last time since it is expected to leave our solar system. Tonight is its closest approach to earth and it is quite close as far as comets go. A mere 38 million miles.

I would like to wish Ben a happy twenty third birthday today. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. Rather than rewrite the story I will just copy a blog entry I made last year.

As February of 1986 drew to a close Lisa's belly grew larger and larger. Ben was preparing to enter the world. His due date was the 27th but we were kind of hoping that he would go a week or so late. Kira was born Sep 2nd, Brandon was born June 2nd so we thought it would be kind of cool if Ben was born March 2nd. Dumb eh? Lisa had gone a couple of weeks late with Kira so we figured it could happen with Ben and maybe he could be born on March 2nd. It wasn't to happen and on her due date Lisa went into labor. By this time Lisa figured she was an old pro and since she'd spent the entire night in labor with Kira (twelve hours) and she'd spent the entire night in labor with Brandon she did not want to spend so many hours in the hospital in labor with this one. She was bored and so we decided we'd go and visit Pat and Gary Norton. We were having a good visit but we were a bit oblivious to the fact that every time Lisa would have a contraction Gary would go more and more green around the gills. Finally Pat pointed out that Gary was extremely uncomfortable with Lisa being in labor so we decided to give him and break and leave. I thought it was so funny that this big old rancher who'd delivered hundreds of calves himself couldn't handle a woman in labor. Lisa finally decided that she'd like to go shopping. We were in Safeway going up and down the isles and I finally told Lisa that we'd better leave because I really didn't want to be in the store when her water broke. That would be very embarrassing. Finally she gave in and we headed off to the hospital. As we were walking into the hospital we passed our Doctor, Dr Oberg. After our experiences with the first two we told him to go have a good nights sleep because we'd probably be here all night long. We were expecting the baby to be born early the next morning just like the other two. As it turned out, he maybe should have just stayed. Lisa got changed, got checked out and then they called Dr Oberg and told him he'd better come back. My sister Jackies birthday is February 26 and I thought it would be pretty cool if she waited until her birthday. After all, Kira was born on my Uncle Jay's birthday, Brandon was born on my sister Fara's birthday so Ben should be born on my sister Jackies' birthday. The contractions were coming stronger and stronger and I noticed it was after 11:00 pm so I suggested that maybe she should try and pant out the contractions and hold on until midnight. They about threw me out of the delivery room. Women in labor don't have much of a sense of humor. They all decided that Ben would have his own birthday. He was born February 25, 1986 right around 11:30 pm.

Happy Birthday Son. Good luck with school and with life.

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If the fog covering seven city blocks one hundred feet deep were to be condensed into water it would fill one glass.
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