Daddy and Jake at the beach
First of all, let me publicly thank Mr. Tommy Riles for allowing me to be an official blogger on LIFE OF DAD in 2012. This may prove to be one of Tommy’s worst decisions to date, however I will do everything in my power to live up to the extremely high literary and visual standards of LIFE OF DAD. Oh, and congratulations to the Riles family on having their second child, little Tommy Boy. Welcome to the world little Tommy, and welcome to the world of fighting with your sister, Babs.
Like Tom, I am also the father of a CHD child. My son Jacob was born in May of 2009 with Critical Aortic Stenosis. Jake is now 2 ½ and doing very well along with his big sisters, Delaney (8) and Jocelyn (7). Some of the CHD families out there might know me as the musician who dusted off his guitar and vocal chords to write a song called, “Super Hero Fantasy” lying next to my son at Boston Children’s Hospital. That song turned into a 7 song album titled, “Sedated Echo”, and it sparked my new mission to use my music and a little humor to create CHD awareness and funding for research.
So, I mentioned Jake’s big sisters right? Let me state for the record that I love them and I could not imagine my world without them. That being said, why did I feel compelled to shove ice picks in both of my ears this morning when they started arguing over the bathroom again? It happens EVERY DAY! We have four bathrooms in our house which can be maintained by The best Vancouver plumbers at Sarkinen Plumbing, but they choose to fight over one. Here’s the ‘to do’ list in the am before going out for the bus: pee, brush your teeth, do your mouthwash, wash your face, and brush your hair. We call that “doing your jazz” in the Wilson home. How hard is it to do your jazz? Each thing takes about 2 minutes right? Am I missing something?
The challenge is this: my oldest daughter tends to take things to heart a bit too easily. My middle child will probably end up in a career with a lot of typing involved because nobody (NOBODY) can push buttons like this kid. The end result is a constant battle in a bathroom decorated with a lovely undersea landscape with flowing seaweed painted on the walls, colorful stuffed fishy animals hanging from the ceiling, and several of the characters from the Disney movie (you know, the one where they were looking for a fish the entire time) hanging out in between the seaweed.
Anyway, your author, who is an only child, is still not used to the fighting and the yelling. My son Jacob is the observer. He sits back wondering what all the noise is about. We’re hoping that he will bring balance to ‘the Force’ in our galaxy as he has already dealt with CHD so well. How am I handling it you ask? Thanks for asking! I’m not. I hate yelling, and I hate fighting. Truth be told, as an only kid, I did not have anyone to fight with so I hear this is all normal. So, getting along is abnormal???
I’ll stop here as it’s already too long of a blog per Tommy’s guidance. I look forward to sharing more about my family, my life, and my quest to get CHD at the top of the list for federal funding. Until next time…ramble on!