Dear Itty Bitty,
Your mother and I met way back in 2005. In 2004 your Mimi, Gramps, and I decided to start a business together called Arrow Contracting and we moved from Southern Maryland to the Eastern Shore. There were a lot of reasons for doing this.
Mimi's mom, my grandmother (whom you are named after) Norma Virginia Coleman or Nanny as we called her, had Alzheimer's disease. Your great-grandfather, Marvin Brent Coleman or Pop-pop as we called him, needed help taking care of Nanny. Mimi decided to take a leave of absence from work and stay home to help with Nanny when we all moved to Ocean Pines. Mimi, Gramps, and I moved in June of 2004 and about a month later Nanny and Pop-pop moved in with us while they were waiting to get into their new house right around the corner from Mimi and Gramps' house. Someone was renting the house that Nanny and Pop-pop bought so they had to wait until the lease was up to move in.
Another reason we moved over here is because my uncle Bobby, Gramps' brother, lived over here and was in the construction industry too. Gramps thought that would help us get into the business a little easier and it did help. Uncle Bobby helped us out in the beginning by giving us some work and introducing us to some people in the industry. He also let us borrow some of the more specialized tools that we didn't have in the beginning. That's how we ended up here on the Eastern Shore.
Once we were here we started looking for a church to go to. We went to lots of churches in and around the Ocean City area. We couldn't find one that we liked for many months. I suggested that we start looking in Salisbury because it was only a 30 minute drive from where we lived and there were many more options. Gramps knew of a church where the pastor had been at Southern Seminary at the same time as himself. We found out where it was and decided to go check it out.
That church was Allen Memorial Baptist Church. That is when I first met your mother. She was singing in the praise team and I thought she was pretty. We ended up going to a small group together for a while until she decided to take a job in Atlanta, Georgia. I had already started to fall for her so I went over to help her pack up and move. After she left I sent her flowers that would show up at her new house right after she moved in. Then we started talking on the phone a lot and started getting to know each other until one day a few months later we decided I would go down to visit her for a weekend.
I bought a plane ticket, rented a hotel room, and took off of work so I could fly down on Friday afternoon and spend the whole weekend with her. When I got to the airport I called and let her know that I was there waiting for her to come pick me up. I went and got my luggage and found a seat near the door where she was going to pick me up. She came and got me and then we spent the afternoon riding around until it was time for dinner. We went to her friend's house and then went to dinner with them. After dinner it was late so she took me to the hotel and dropped me off at the door. I said goodnight and she drove home. The next morning she picked me up and we went out. We ended up at the Coca-Cola Museum where I paid for your mother's ticket. She didn't like that because she wanted to buy her own ticket and I didn't let her. I was trying to be a gentleman and she saw it another way.
By Sunday morning things were very tense and we weren't talking very much. After church we went to a restaurant and I asked what was wrong. She told me she just didn't think it would work out so I asked her to take me back to the airport early. I ended up sitting in the airport for many hours until it was time for my flight. I had made it late that night so I could spend as much time as possible with your mother that weekend.
Some time later your mother moved back to the Eastern Shore and we ended up going to the same cell group again. After serving together for a while at church we ended up hanging out again and then we started dating. We dated for a few months and I asked her to marry me. She said yes and we were married a few months later on October 18, 2008.
Then one morning you mother called me into the bathroom and she was sitting on the floor holding a pregnancy test that seemed to say that she was pregnant. It was one of those kind with lines and colors and we weren't sure about the results. I stopped and bought the kind that have words on them and she took another one and then we knew...you were coming!
I was excited and your mother was a little apprehensive. I think she was worried about being pregnant and all the changes she was about to go through. We made it through her pregnancy with lots of weird cravings and with a lot more things she didn't like. I ended up eating in another room a lot so I wouldn't make her sick. She couldn't stand the smell of our bedroom for a while and slept on the couch a lot. Then the day the doctors told us you were due you decided to start your journey into the world. Your Grandma was there with us in the room and Mimi and Gramps were in the waiting room about twenty feet away. Your mommy was hurting a lot and I was trying to do everything I could for her. Then you showed up very early the next morning and I got to cut your umbilical cord. You screamed and cried and were generally unhappy with the beginnings of life outside of mommy. Then we got to hold you and you knew then that you were loved.
We spent the next several days in the hospital with only your Grandma able to come and visit because there were fears everywhere about the H1N1 Swine Flu, so only two people were allowed in the room with your mommy and you. I slept on this crazy chair that would fold down into a "bed" and your mommy slept in the hospital "bed" while you slept between us in your little mobile clear plastic crib.
The hospital messed up your blood work and they scared your mommy and made you stay an extra day and a half. Then we got to take you home. Our little bundle of joy. That day you met your Mimi and Gramps for the first time and they loved it so much. (They loved you too, but that started long before you were born) You met Grandpa the next day. Things started slowing down a little bit and we started getting into a routine and you slept a lot...
Love,
Daddy
No comments:
Post a Comment