Tuesday, October 09, 2007


Chandler's Birthday!


Chandler, my youngest, turned 10 today.

And his birthday has been indicative of how screwed up things have been of late. He is finally out of his hard cast -- for the moment. More on that in a second.

He started out happy. I told him an old joke that I updated for current times. It was originally told about General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

I'm currently reading the Spiderwick Chronicles to him. He's enjoying them. Today we read about how the goblins massacred all the dwarves.

So on the way to school, I asked him, "Do you know what the dwarves said when they looked to the north and all they saw was goblins? And they looked to the south and all they saw was goblins? And they looked to the east and all they saw was goblins? And they looked to the west and all they saw was goblins?"

"No," he said.

"Damn, that's a LOT of goblins!"

He thought that was uproariously funny. He's a generous kid.

My 18-year-old and I took him out to lunch for his birthday. He ate seven pieces of pizza. My 10-year-old. More than he usually eats.

That afternoon we got a phone call from the doctor. Tomorrow Chandler has to go in for a bone scan. Happy Birthday! They're worried that the growth plate might have been damaged in his leg after all. He broke the big bone near the ankle joint.

If the growth plate is damaged, he could end up with one leg shorter than the other. Of course, they can operate on him and put pins in his leg. Which is another set of problems.

We'll know more tomorrow.

So I took the family to dinner at BJ's. He had a great time. Unfortunately, he was the only kid that could be here. My daughter lives out of town. The two older boys were with their girlfriends. My 18-year-old was at work.

My wife and I sang Happy Birthday to him. He blew out his candles by himself. Not much of a birthday compared to all the others he remembers. But he didn't complain.

I just watched him and realized that it sucks to be the last kid at home. And there's nothing I can do about it. Kinda matches up with other things I've got going on right now that I'm trying to deal with.

But I love him and I trust that everything is going to be all right.

3 comments:

Ron Simpson said...

One thing is for sure, Mel. You live that boy. Anybody that reads your blog or knows you has figured that out. So he is the last kid at home, so what? That means he doesn't have to share you that much.
I had never heard that joke before. I will have to remember it.

Katie said...

Sounds like it was a good birthday to me. As longs as he has parents that love him and treat him well. That's all that really matters. I hope he got lots of birthday wishes from the rest of the clan as well. I hope that his leg is ok. I'll keep him in my prayers.

Angela/SciFiChick said...

Being the last kid at home just means he gets that much more attention from his parents!
Hope he had a nice Birthday!