Thursday, January 17, 2013

Sweet Sixteen!




...it was on this day, sixteen years ago, that my oldest son, Dylan, was born.

He arrived on the coldest day of the year, having fought the inevitable to more than a week past his due date.  Roughly through the mid-way point of what would become a sixteen hour delivery for his soon to be mother, I decided on a costly mistake, by leaving the hospital in order to rush home and let the dog out for a quick bathroom break.

It was during my return to the maternity ward, a mile or so from the entrance, when the car decided it was simply too cold to cooperate any longer, and blew its water pump.

In 1997 I did not own a cell phone.  

And so, determined not to miss out on the birth of my son, I braved the frigid temps, and ran the final mile to the hospital...arriving in plenty of time to thaw out, contact the family mechanic, and catch my first born's grand entrance.

That son of mine would go on to become the starting tailback on the gridiron, the saxophone player in the high school band, and a 4.0 student in the class room.

That son of mine would also be the one to dig up a long forgotten manuscript, dating back several years prior to 1997, and find it, (in his words, the most entertaining short story he'd ever read.) 

"Dad, this story's gotta be shared!  Are you gonna do something about this, or should I?"  ...or something like that.

And so I thought about that old story, entitled The Fall.  I thought about a boy named Johnny, who spends an evening on the run, trekking across town in order to save the girl of his dreams from making a terrible mistake.

I thought back to that cold day in '97, racing to the hospital, my face burnt from a windchill temp below zero, in order to see the birth of my son, and found the irony too perfect to pass up.

Afterall, there are no coincidences ;)

And so, to my son, on his sixteenth birthday, I've dedicated to him, The Fall, available now on Amazon Kindle.

For a mere $.99, you can see what all the fuss is about.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Fall-ebook/dp/B00AZBIM68/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_1_BANV

Happy Birthday, Dylan ;)

El

18 comments:

Elliot Grace said...

Hey Alex, thanks. He's a great kid ;)

El

Anita said...

You've made me cry about a half dozen times! :) Will go check out THE FALL.

dolorah said...

Well, happy birthday Dylan. Thanks for pushing your Dad to publish this awesome nove that I'm currently reading :)

......dhole

Anne Gallagher said...

Congratulations Elliot, not only on The Fall, but on having such a fantastic son.

Elise Fallson said...

So great you made it in time for the delivery. And what an awesome son for getting you to publish your book. Happy Birthday Dylan!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Golden Eagle said...

Happy Birthday to Dylan!

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Happy Birthday, Dylan! Sixteen hour delivery! I don't want to do something that feels good for 16 hours much less have labor pains! My Stetson's off to your wife!

Elliot Grace said...

Hey Anita, glad you enjoyed my recollection of Dylan's first day. Thanks for stopping by ;)

Hey Donna, my son says you're very welcome, and happy to hear a positive response on the story ;)

Hey Anne, very sweet of you, thanks so much!

Hey Elise, it took some effort getting him there, but he's grown to be quite the young man.

Hey Eagle, I'll let him know, thanks!

Hey Roland, according to my wife, it was pain well spent. (Better her than I ;)

El

Jemi Fraser said...

Got my copy!! :)

Happy Birthday to Dylan! He sounds like a wonderful young man and I hope is future is full of joy :)

Michael Di Gesu said...

Happy belated Birthday Dylan!

GLAD you got your dad to share that story with us.

Hey, EL.

Great story....

Sounds like life is going well for you. SO happy to see you are moving right along in 2013!

Judy Croome | @judy_croome said...

Happy birthday Dylan! And congratulations Elliot - from the start it seems you were destined to be a great Dad.

Congratulations on The Fall - I'll set up a few tweets.

monica said...

hpy belated b'day Dylan..:)
stay blessed..:)

Elliot Grace said...

Hey Jemi, you're a sweetheart! Hope you enjoy it.

Hey Michael, not a bad way to kick start the new year. Thanks for stopping by.

Hey Judy, such kind words, thank you.

Hey Jemina, Dylan thanks you ;)

El

Vicki Rocho said...

Now that's a memorable birth story! Congrats on the release of The Fall. Adding it to my ever-growing list of Kindle fare. :)

Nicki Elson said...

Elliot!!! How the *bleep* are you??

My goodness that boy was a lot of work to bring into the world, but he sounds like he was totally worth it. Love that he's the one who found your story and encouraged you to get it out there. I'm now very excited to have it on my Kindle Cloud Reader. :D

Elliot Grace said...

Hey Vicki, thanks so much!

Hey Patrycja, I'll make sure to stop by, thanks for doing the same ;)

Hey Nicki, he was indeed worth it. Thanks for stopping by!

El

Stephanie D said...

Awesome memory. Thankfully no tales of snow and car trouble when my daughter was born!