Forty years ago today, at 3 AM, Banjo Man and I made the wild 65-mile trip to Coeur d’Alene when I was in labor with this guy. He was 6 weeks early so we weren’t at all prepared. We had very little gas in the car, but we found a gas station in the middle of nowhere and paid the owner $3 to open the tank and bought $2 of gas, because we only had $5.
I really didn’t want to give birth in that old blue Datsun.
The day before we’d had a football party that began at 9 AM with a breakfast brunch, in honor of the New England Patriots game being televised and a friend who would be in the stands in Foxboro holding up a sign for us.
Everyone we knew wanted to see the sign. And we were not disappointed. “HI GLEN IN HOPE IDAHO” was clearly visible many times. We cheered. A lot.
The party continued throughout the day, ending with Retired Mountain Lady playing the piano and all of us gathering around to sing.
A few hours later, when everyone had gone home and we were cleaning up, things got a little intense. This was a high risk pregnancy and there were…issues.
But Son #2, aka Will, aka Story Man was born around 6:15 AM and was in pretty good shape for a preemie. He would stay in the hospital for more than a week, but he was going to be okay.
And now he is 40. The miracle pregnancy turned into a wonderful man who brings joy everywhere he goes.
I am so grateful.
Happy Birthday, Will!

Horseback trip to Moose Lake, July 2017.
Such a good guy.
Congratulations and Happy Birthday to Will! He truly is a living beam of sunshine!
Happy Birthday to Will! Chad was 38 on the 24th! A couple of good guys!