Day 233:
It's been an up and down vacation for me, Boy'O. I've spent the better part of two weeks fighting some kind of illness and, where I normally would find a way to beat it back and / or ignore it, this kinda thing can be more than just fighting a bad cough. Especially when you're on vacation...
It was another day of dragging my feet today, Son. I've tried hard to put this behind me and find a way to enjoy myself but at every turn there seems to be yet another obstacle in my path. But that's okay, Boy'O. While there are those who would allow themselves to be taken down by the little bugs, I refuse to go quietly...
Yes, I spent the better part of the day in bed, resting, rehydrating, and letting my body jump into overdrive to do whatever it could to chase thing out. Meanwhile, Mommy was at the beach and your Mom-Mom and MeMeow were here to look after you while I tried to rally for one more good night. I finally got up and moving around 2:30pm and just in time to see your Uncle Teddy, Aunt Margie, and cousin Max who stopped by to visit for a few hours. By this point, aside from a sore throat and a bit of a runny nose, I at least felt as though I was capable of having a great time tonight.
The whole house packed up and headed over to the Gallo's for dinner and drinks. With both the Gallo's and the Rummel's little guys now out of camp, and given all the adults and our festiveness, it was a packed house! Kids and parents and grandparents and friends at every turn... But we of course made the best out of it... I showed Tyler the art of the full stretch and how to throw a slider, worked with Emily as to how to take care of you or someone your size, and even worked with Porter and Bowman on their tennis swings! In between coaching though, I managed to have a cocktail and join the guys for some great conversation... Throw in some Frogmore stew and a key-lime pie, not that bad of a night...
It's interesting to me how many are reading this blog, Conor. I'm often surprised when someone simply says, "I read your blog to Conor. It's great... I hope you can keep it up!"
After 233 straight days, not getting it done is not even an option. I'll hold up my end, Son. And as matter of fact as this forum is, as candid as I can be about you, what you mean to me, how you impact my day or my life or even my outlook on life, I know full well this blog is not perfect. I'm anything but an English scholar and in fact I think I've only re-read maybe 5 or 6 of these posts. If spell-check doesn't pick it up, grammatically speaking, neither will I. Having said that I've received some constructive, if not unsolicited, advice from a few folks and to be sure, I take it all in stride...
The fact is, writing is an art and art is expression. Plain and simple. I'm a humble man, Conor, and I can take constructive criticism and advice. About this forum I write to you or anything else in my life that could use direction. But to be sure, there's a level of courage it takes to put your thoughts into words and once it's down and published, there's absolutely no taking it back. Nobody is more aware of that than the writer. Nobody.
It's the effort in the art form, it's the courage of your convictions, it's dedication the likes of which many will never, ever know. It's love, Son... And whether or not my punctuation is always perfect, or if I capitalize the wrong word, or if my sentence structure isn't grammatically perfect, or my capitalization is off, it really doesn't matter... Not to me anyhow. And certainly not in a blog that I write without the benefit of an editor. No sir, I do this because I love to do it and because I love you. I do this because in my 39+ years, I've started a great many things I've never finished. Some I regret, others I don't. But when I met you, Conor, and when I started this blog from a Virginia NICU in the dead of Winter in an effort to keep my mind clear and focussed, both on you and the task at hand, I started something that, short of death, I will assuredly finish.
When it's all said and done, on December 14th, 2012, I will take the day to culminate my thoughts of the year. I will finish this project and I will be proud. And at that time, I'll turn it over to an Editor. A PhD in English Literature from Catholic University, who'll correct the many, many mistakes before these 365 days of thoughts and love make their way to a hard back book of which you'll be presented on December 14th, 2032 - your 21st Birthday. By then, the only two people who'll ever have cared about what's been written here, will be me and you.
I love you, Conor. So very, very much.
-Dad
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