I was flipping through all my pictures trying to find the right ones to post and discovered that I needed to expand my original thoughts about this -- to include celebrating my brothers and them acting as fathers too.
I mean, we have a great dad. The Greatest.
Even now, when we are finally all out of the Ye Old Connecticut House, (finally, even after one last trip in October 2012),
we still manage to creep back into the Western White House to catch him hiding out in the li-berry/'puter room/den-thingy.
You try to creep up on him with a camera -- and watch out for the remote smack-down.
He gets you out of your comfort zone and trying new things -- like hiking in the wilderness, and learning how to defend yourself and work on your aim.
But the grandkids have an even greater Grumpa.
He's passing on his love of the water to another generation. That's Drew out on Sand Hollow this past week with him, learning the ways of the water and paddle.
And he's a hands-on grandpa to Cannon and Sarah, teaching them
important things, like rolling over and smiling for other people - occasionally.
I'm so glad I got to travel so much for all the family get-togethers this past year. But I was more glad to document the generations of my family in happy times.
Like when Uncle J finally met his newest niece and nephew back in January. Proud Papa Max/Jed/Jr. (r) want to know if J thinks "dos bebes" happen to look like him. Regardless, Sarah wasn't impressed. (She still isn't, almost six months later.)
Then there was the double ceremony afternoon on January 26, 2013: Drew's baptism and confirmation, followed by the twins' blessings.
I love this candid on the left. That's Grumpa, his son Max/Jed/Jr. holding Cannon, all looking down at Drew. (Cameo by the biggest big brother of all, totally unintentional.)
On the right, two dads maybe relievedly thinking that they are glad that they didn't have "dos bebes" at the same time! (Also, nope - NO family resemblance at all ... noooooooooo.)
Despite being dads themselves, brothers can't help being brothers when sisters are pointing cameras at them.
Despite being an annoying older sister, I can still give props where props are due to pops.
No only can he scale tall buildings, I mean decorate with a staple gun, but Max/Jed/Jr. can feed two babies at the same time!
Not only can he dole out snark, medical jargon, and discipline where it's merited, he also can hand out hugs. One day Drew will look back and appreciate all that time he had with his dad growing up, before the twins, before school, and remember the trips they took, as well as the love of the Red Sox and UCONN that came from his father.
I think a lot of J's joshing of his older brother that weekend was because now Max/Jed/Jr. has three himself, so he'll learn what that's all about. It's not just the numbers, you can't do 1 adult : 1 kid anymore, but it's learning how to juggle different kids' ages/interests vs.one-on-one time.
Storytime is a good place to start. Teaching kids about quiet reading time, but also
having that one little thing with that one kid. Nathan has solo Poppa time -- and they are both the more
awesome for it. There are also birthday trips to Wendy's, which make for
cute photos and videos.
J's also great about introducing them to new activities, like kayaking, sledding, and
boarding. Teaching them to be adventuresome. For my part, I can't wait to see how they learn to be simultaneously goofy, geeky, techy, and media savvy, and secure in being multidimensional.
So on this Father's Day - I salute all three of the main fathers in my life.
I love you bros.
But I love my Daddy the bestest!
(and I have embarrassing photos to prove it.)
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| Sometime in my teens, c. 1980s Church Mutual event |
P.S. Sorry about all the cars. And the grey hairs. And the cars!
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