Page 668 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
It took only twenty-four more days for Chris and Peter to join the club, as their daughter, Caitlyn Hanalei Yaverbaum, arrived at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (where, guess what, Doctor Kim just happens to practice), on Friday, Novem- ber 20, 2014.
Finally (for now, perhaps), on Friday, August 7, 2015, Anna Grace Meyer, Kathy’s first granddaughter, was born to Molly and Dan at Maine Medical Center (where, guess what, Doctor Dan just happens to prac- tice). That made for three wonderful events within a period of less than one year and, conveniently enough, three Friday deliveries out of eight. If we are lucky enough to have another grandchild, we are hoping for a Wednesday birth, so that we can say that our children and their children have covered every day of the week. (Not really.) Anna’s arrival brought the number of grandchildren to eight (five wonderful boys and three wonderful girls).
Kathy and I have always been fortunate that her two sons and my two sons and one daughter, and now their five spouses, all get along very well. (As I write this, Rachel and Joe have moved to Maine, where they have been welcomed by our first Mainers, Molly and Dan.) That is, I take it, very rare in stepfamilies. We are blessed with terrific children who have made beautiful choices.
Over the years since Kathy and I wed, it has been a standing joke that when any combination of the five—now ten—children, or, now, any combination of the ten children and the eight grandchildren, dine with us, I am heard to solemnly and proudly assert something on the order of, “Well, I want you to know that this is the first time that [please fill in the blank with all of the almost innumerable combinations] have gotten together for dinner here.” I do it, knowing full well that one or more of our children will have anticipated my announcement and will proceed to say the same thing, virtually simultaneously with my utter- ance, speaking with a somewhat facetious faux gravity and solemnity that they could have learned only from yours truly. We all then laugh, and that makes me even prouder.
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