It is hard to believe that 30 years ago today he came into our lives after 32 hours of labour! I remember the day like it was yesterday even down to what we ate for dinner the night he was born! We had roast beef at my Mom and Dad's house and then headed home because things were starting to happen. Bill finally took me to the hospital around 11 PM and made me sit on a pile of towels in his BMW just in case! No need to worry about that.....he wasn't born until the following night at 7:11 PM! Things were so different back then. I was in the hospital for an entire week. I know now days women are home within 24 hours of delivery! I wasn't even certain I wanted to go home after a week. The thought of having to do all the things you have to do with a baby were terrifying to me! We did, however, survive......he was a surprisingly easy baby and a terrific sleeper.
I remember when he started kindergarten at Captain John Palliser School. His teacher's name was Mrs. Harland....when I introduced him to her, he looked at her and said "Hello Mrs. Harlot!" On the first night of interviews we were viewing the children's self portraits on the wall around the perimeter of the room. We finally found Geoff's. The portraits were on large poster size card stock paper. The reason we had a problem finding Geoff's portrait was because there was nothing on the page except for a small circle, about the size of a quarter, in the bottom right corner of the paper. The circle had a happy face and four sticks extending out from the circle for arms and legs. It was not coloured, it had no hair....absolutely no effort had gone into the drawing and we estimated it probably took him all of 5 seconds to complete. We went home and expressed our disappointment to him about his drawing. All the other childrens' drawings were very elaborate and they had obviously taken some time to complete. To his credit he did listen when we told him that we wanted to see more effort in his work the next time we went for interviews. Well, the next round of interviews came around and we arrived at the classroom to see a new set of self portraits on the wall. We eagerly looked for Geoffs and then stood there looking at it in stunned silence. It was exactly the same picture.....a circle with a happy face and four sticks extending out from the circle. The only difference was that the drawing now took up the whole page!
Geoff has always been a happy go lucky kid. I love his easy going nature and is attitude that life should be fun! He has always enjoyed sports but it was never important to him to be the best.....the friends and the fun around the activities were always the most important thing.
Shortly after we moved into our house (we were one of the first houses to be built on the block) Geoff was outside playing happily by himself. He came in for supper, we put him to bed and then as the evening progressed, Bill commented that he thought he heard water running. He went outside to investigate and discovered the hole that had been dug for the foundation of the house being built next door had about a foot of water in it! Turns out Geoff was building a swimming pool!
When he was about 8 he wanted to get a new bike. We suggested he could help pay for it by recycling pop cans. He embraced this project with great enthusiasm. Our neighbours boys worked for the Canons and they used to bring home bags of cans from the games for Geoff. The pennies were slowly adding up. Parade day came and Kelli, Geoff and I headed downtown to find our spot along the parade route. As the parade wrapped up and people started to vacate the area, Geoff noticed there were cans everywhere. He found a large garbage bag and filled it in no time with pop cans which we then carried home on the LRT. We got some very, very strange looks from other passengers and I must confess I felt a bit like a homeless person.
School was sometimes a challenge. Teachers did not always appreciate this attitude that life should be fun! I remember when he was in grade 9 he sat down at the kitchen table, unprompted to do his homework. I couldn't believe it. He worked away diligently until Bill went upstairs to bed. It was then he looked up and casually said to me...."I had a small problem at school today Mom and I need you to sign this." Well the small problem turned out to be a science experiment gone wrong. The experiment was to determine what various mystery fluids were by testing various properties, including flamibility of the fluids. They were to put a FEW drops in the tin foil cup and then see if the fluids were flammable. Geoff's group, however, filled the cup with fluid then lit it. It flared up and the group disappeared leaving Geoff holding the bag. He madly tried to put the flame out by flowing on the flame which sent the tin foil cup flying across the lab table. The class was in complete kaos and the teacher was livid. The note I had to sign indicated that we were to attend a meeting at the school with a couple of teachers and an administrator! The teacher was so mad she said he would not be allowed to do another science experiment for the remainder of the year. I inquired as to whether the other students in the group were receiving the same punishment and she admitted that she did not know who was in the group and Geoff would not divulge that information. I know I found this meeting terribly uncomfortable and can only imagine how he must have felt. Definitely deserved a consequence.....perhaps the one given was a little severe given that this happened in the early fall!
This year Geoff married Lindsey. I was touched to see how many of his childhood friends attended the wedding, including his long time friend (since the age of 5) and best man Trevor. To have friends in your life that you have had for a lifetime is a gift but it takes a friend to have a friend! I always tell my kids.....tend to your friendships.....they are one of the most important things in your life!
Every year at Christmas I give my kids a tree ornament. A couple of years ago I gave each of them an elf ornament....Geoff's had the words...Oldest....Mom's Favourite......Kelli's was also an elf with the words....Youngest Child....Mom's favourite....The funny thing is that they both opened their ornaments at the same time and looked at each other. To this day we joke about it....
So..Oldest Child....Mom's Favourite.....Happy Birthday! I hope tomorrow exceeds your expectations!
And know how thankful I am to have you in my life!
Love
Mom
No comments:
Post a Comment