December Fourth
At some point on December fourth...
...ever since 1977, I've been reminded of a visit I made to my Aunt Jean's house on a sunny Sunday morning.
I felt relatively well when I got to Aunt Jean's. As the good Irish woman that she was, she offered coffee and appropriate food...that morning it was sweet rolls. Uncle Bob and my husband rounded out our foursome at Jean's table. We chatted about some football game and then the conversation turned to baseball because Jean and I LOVED our baseball.
That was the year that Reggie Jackson hit 3 homers in one World Series game. Jean and I were laughing at the stupid comment Jackson made after his amazing performance at bat that day. When the first microphone was stuck in his face, he said, "I don't want to be compared to Babe Ruth and other greats."
Well, as far as we knew, no one had compared him to Ruth except himself. So Jean and I took offense to that comment and were still discussing it months later. To make matters worse, that summer we had seats in the right field mezzanine to watch the Yankees play in Oakland. From our perch above right field, we saw Jackson trap a ball and hold it up in triumph as though he had caught it clean. Jean continued her chorus of, "You're a BUM Jackson!" LONG after the rest of the Oakland fans stopped taunting the cheating right fielder.
I laughed as Jean's blood pressure seemed to raise higher than anyone elses in the room when all of a sudden I felt a hideous pain in my gut. It quickly went away so I went back to eating my sweet roll and drinking my coffee.
Shortly after that, my aunt called my father and when he asked about me she said, "Oh, she's fine, she's sitting here eating sweet rolls and drinking coffee. Don't worry." Then she chatted a bit more with her brother and they hung up.
But the pains soon returned and for the very first time in my life, I went to the hospital. They examined me a bit and then took me into a room like none I had ever seen before. I was only 19 and hadn't been to nursing school yet so I didn't know what was going on. But before it was over, they gave me laughing gas and I get a little fuzzy for a while. Then, suddenly my head cleared up and I had no more pain. Whatever they did seemed to have worked.
As soon as I began to come around, they let me know what had caused all of that pain. They handed me a 9 pound, 12 ounce little boy with a head full of blonde hair. I seem to recall that he had not yet been circumcised.
I spent the rest of the day getting to know him. I've liked him from the beginning.
...ever since 1977, I've been reminded of a visit I made to my Aunt Jean's house on a sunny Sunday morning.
I felt relatively well when I got to Aunt Jean's. As the good Irish woman that she was, she offered coffee and appropriate food...that morning it was sweet rolls. Uncle Bob and my husband rounded out our foursome at Jean's table. We chatted about some football game and then the conversation turned to baseball because Jean and I LOVED our baseball.
That was the year that Reggie Jackson hit 3 homers in one World Series game. Jean and I were laughing at the stupid comment Jackson made after his amazing performance at bat that day. When the first microphone was stuck in his face, he said, "I don't want to be compared to Babe Ruth and other greats."
Well, as far as we knew, no one had compared him to Ruth except himself. So Jean and I took offense to that comment and were still discussing it months later. To make matters worse, that summer we had seats in the right field mezzanine to watch the Yankees play in Oakland. From our perch above right field, we saw Jackson trap a ball and hold it up in triumph as though he had caught it clean. Jean continued her chorus of, "You're a BUM Jackson!" LONG after the rest of the Oakland fans stopped taunting the cheating right fielder.
I laughed as Jean's blood pressure seemed to raise higher than anyone elses in the room when all of a sudden I felt a hideous pain in my gut. It quickly went away so I went back to eating my sweet roll and drinking my coffee.
Shortly after that, my aunt called my father and when he asked about me she said, "Oh, she's fine, she's sitting here eating sweet rolls and drinking coffee. Don't worry." Then she chatted a bit more with her brother and they hung up.
But the pains soon returned and for the very first time in my life, I went to the hospital. They examined me a bit and then took me into a room like none I had ever seen before. I was only 19 and hadn't been to nursing school yet so I didn't know what was going on. But before it was over, they gave me laughing gas and I get a little fuzzy for a while. Then, suddenly my head cleared up and I had no more pain. Whatever they did seemed to have worked.
As soon as I began to come around, they let me know what had caused all of that pain. They handed me a 9 pound, 12 ounce little boy with a head full of blonde hair. I seem to recall that he had not yet been circumcised.
I spent the rest of the day getting to know him. I've liked him from the beginning.
posted by Meg Kelso | 6:32 AM
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