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Twenty-one years ago I had to get a ride with my pregnant wife to the hospital on Scott Air Force Base, as she started to feels her contractions coming. I had just turned twenty little more than two months before. I had just joined the Air Force about six months before. Within three years I would be divorced and living in Germany, a single parent at an age I wasn’t necessarily prepared for it.
Some people accuse me of favoritism with Robyn, that I treat her different than I do Bella and Tatiana. In some ways, that’s true; in other ways, I think it’s unfair. Because I probably committed what some people consider an ultimate sin for a parent--I was Robyn’s friend. That’s not to say that I was her friend and not her parent. There were many times I had to play the parent role, and Robyn spent more time between the ages of six and thirteen under house arrest groundings than probably both Bella and Tatiana will by the time they move out of the house. But for a lot of the time, especially those years when we were in Germany alone, a time of which I am reminded now, because we are going to have to do a Christmas this year like we did then (except our tree will be much bigger; then it was essentially a tree you might put on a desk, and the presents eventually got bigger than the tree.
It’s a little hard to believe that she is 21. At that age I was filing for divorce and trying to figure out how I was going to raise a toddler on my own. It’s good to see that, while common sense has not been a trait that comes easily to either of us, she at least has a little more than me...but I am fairly happy with the lack of common sense I did have, because I got her out of it.
There are many things I want to do in my life. One thing I know I want to do again is go on another trip with Robyn, just the two of us, like we did in the early part of this century, when we did that two-week, sixteen-state drive-a-thon, including the hunt for someplace to pee after the Grand Canyon, all the caves we went to...just being in the car and driving. Or that trip to Denver to see Bruce Springsteen, Bill Cosby, a Rockies game (where I got half my face sunburned), and more tourist attractions along the way. I have never had a travel companion as good as Robyn, and while I love my other children, I definitely miss those trips.
Happy 21st birthday, Yabbut. I love you.
Some people accuse me of favoritism with Robyn, that I treat her different than I do Bella and Tatiana. In some ways, that’s true; in other ways, I think it’s unfair. Because I probably committed what some people consider an ultimate sin for a parent--I was Robyn’s friend. That’s not to say that I was her friend and not her parent. There were many times I had to play the parent role, and Robyn spent more time between the ages of six and thirteen under house arrest groundings than probably both Bella and Tatiana will by the time they move out of the house. But for a lot of the time, especially those years when we were in Germany alone, a time of which I am reminded now, because we are going to have to do a Christmas this year like we did then (except our tree will be much bigger; then it was essentially a tree you might put on a desk, and the presents eventually got bigger than the tree.
It’s a little hard to believe that she is 21. At that age I was filing for divorce and trying to figure out how I was going to raise a toddler on my own. It’s good to see that, while common sense has not been a trait that comes easily to either of us, she at least has a little more than me...but I am fairly happy with the lack of common sense I did have, because I got her out of it.
There are many things I want to do in my life. One thing I know I want to do again is go on another trip with Robyn, just the two of us, like we did in the early part of this century, when we did that two-week, sixteen-state drive-a-thon, including the hunt for someplace to pee after the Grand Canyon, all the caves we went to...just being in the car and driving. Or that trip to Denver to see Bruce Springsteen, Bill Cosby, a Rockies game (where I got half my face sunburned), and more tourist attractions along the way. I have never had a travel companion as good as Robyn, and while I love my other children, I definitely miss those trips.
Happy 21st birthday, Yabbut. I love you.
Love this. And not only because it's about one of my very best friends in the world, but because it just speaks so much of your relationship.
I love this, too.Those of us with more than one child love them in different ways because they are different people. Dominic is my "running buddy"---he's the one who goes to baseball and basketball and football games with me. He's the one who will spend a hour in the grocery store with me, deciding what looks good and what we're going to cook. He's the one who will try new places to eat and new foods with me. Alex speaks to my introverted side. We can spend a hr in 1/2 Price Books, just browsing. We discuss vampires. We can meet for breakfast and be sitting there 2 hrs later, maybe not even speaking much but just "being". I love them differently,for who they are and for who I am when I am with them, just as you love Robyn for Robyn, and Bella for Bella, and Tatiana for Tatiana. Be proud, Dad....I don't know your Robyn but from her posts I have read she seems smart, and funny, and a thoroughly decent human being......kudos to you both.