We'd been camping and playing on water toys up at Pine Flats Lake since Madison was an infant. Looking back, I don’t know of many diapered toddlers who enjoyed boating very much and as any parent knows, when kids need a nap they need a nap. Madison’s mom and I were floating around in Jim and Terrie’s boat. Madison was pooped and decided she was going to get fussy. She did. We put her down on some beach towels in the shady bow of the boat but she stayed fussy. I think it was Terrie who out of the blue started singing the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Pretty soon we are were singing it. Madison conked out shortly after that. Jim and Terrie recently registered a star naming it “Madison Rose Jones” near the Pegasus constellation, map below. The card we received from them was priceless too. This brought back such fun and a few quirky memories. We started camping at Pine Flats and white water rafting with our large group of friends since Madi was in diapers and continued to until her high school years. Funny looking back: our pod of friends coincidently starting having kids within a year of one another. On one of the first trips our friends daughter discovered a delicacy called dirt which was abundant, and she was almost unstoppable. No matter how hard we all tried, we couldn’t spank it out of her. She’d just sit there with dirty tear streaks and a brown dirt ring around her dry mouth. The dirty tears made it that much more pathetic. We’d all read children’s books but I must have skipped that chapter and there weren't smartphones back in those days. Now you can read a dozen pros, a dozen cons, and whether or not being a booger-eater is worse than a dirt-eater, and why. Heck, there are probably online forums too.
On that same river trip a very young lad developed an extremely very high temperature. Given our palms were all sore trying to beat the dirt-eatin out of his sister, his mom and dad decided to head down the hill to a hospital in Fresno. Upon arrival, he had a seizure. It’s probably best that he didn’t have a black and blue butt too. Kidding aside on all counts, pretty fricking terrifying. It turned out he was fine within a day, phew.
Fast-forward to present: we went to a combo Father’s day/birthday party a week ago, and a graduation party this past weekend. Looking at all friends of 40 years, great kids! I’m so proud of all them, their moms, dads and step-parents too. Every parent had direct influence on our kid’s characters. Kids? They’re all outstanding young adults!
In all seriousness from a gent by the name of Ad Cooper: “Being a father has been without a doubt by greatest source of achievement, pride, and inspiration. Fatherhood has taught me about unconditional love, reinforced the importance of giving back and taught me how to be a better person.” True that, mums too.
On chordoma: I miss the time when I didn't know what that was. While there are less than two dozen known cases in the same bloodline, I continue researching it so somehow I can tie it to Madison's mum... Madi would have wanted that :-)
Love,
Chris
On that same river trip a very young lad developed an extremely very high temperature. Given our palms were all sore trying to beat the dirt-eatin out of his sister, his mom and dad decided to head down the hill to a hospital in Fresno. Upon arrival, he had a seizure. It’s probably best that he didn’t have a black and blue butt too. Kidding aside on all counts, pretty fricking terrifying. It turned out he was fine within a day, phew.
Fast-forward to present: we went to a combo Father’s day/birthday party a week ago, and a graduation party this past weekend. Looking at all friends of 40 years, great kids! I’m so proud of all them, their moms, dads and step-parents too. Every parent had direct influence on our kid’s characters. Kids? They’re all outstanding young adults!
In all seriousness from a gent by the name of Ad Cooper: “Being a father has been without a doubt by greatest source of achievement, pride, and inspiration. Fatherhood has taught me about unconditional love, reinforced the importance of giving back and taught me how to be a better person.” True that, mums too.
On chordoma: I miss the time when I didn't know what that was. While there are less than two dozen known cases in the same bloodline, I continue researching it so somehow I can tie it to Madison's mum... Madi would have wanted that :-)
Love,
Chris
And finally thanks Jim and Terrie, you’re right it’s official. We can look now up and see our twinkle twinkle little star.
