Fatherhood

Despite my advanced age fatherhood is still a recent adventure. I was 36 when Keri was born and 38 when David arrived 22 months later. When the doctor came to tell me I had a daughter, I choked up and all I could say was "thank you." When David was born, I later that day got a call from the doctor asking which surgeon I wanted to use. He explained that David had a hole in a lung and they need to insert a tube so the lung could expand. He spent 12 days (I think) in the hospital. We had him baptized there. The minister used distilled water and a syringe to get the job done. David seemed to get better after that.
Both kids did well in school. A counselee once asked how many rules we had at our house. I couldn't think of any. I finally remembered that the kids had to call and let us know where they were. Other than that they were pretty responsible.
As a family we traveled. We made several trips to DisneyWorld and other parts of the country. David and I went to regional soccer tournaments in Idaho and California where we saw the USA play a World Cup game at the Rose Bowl. Both kids likes to watch sports which made me happy. When the kids were in junior high, both parents were on the faculty. I don't know how much this cramped their style but they didn't complain.
Both did well in high school and we received compliments on how well we raised our kids and and were asked how we had done it. My feeling is parenting is for amateurs and what works for one kid won't always work the the next. Treat them as individuals. They chose colleges that were a good fit for them and graduated. I remember helping Keri look for her first apartment in Littleton. I think she made a good choice. We helped her move to her Condo two or three years later and I wondered how one person could accumulate so much stuff in such a short time as I hauled stuff up the stairs. I don't know how many trips we made. We were also there when she and Eric moved to their new house-in January-in a snow storm. This time she hired movers as I claimed old age and a bad back. I remember moving David from Beaver Creek back to Casper so he could graduate and start a job in Minnesota. No wonder we've been in the same house over 30 years.
Both have married wonderful spouses whom we love. Although neither has returned to Wyoming, I didn't particularly encourage it.
I do have to give credit to my bride of 40 years for doing more than 99% of the work in making me a father. I love you all.

I couldn't resist not including this-from my favorite calendar:
JUNE 20/21 "You might be a Redneck if....."your daddy is still giving wedgies."