My daughter turned twelve yesterday. We spent time together. The whole day I was thinking of her first birth day.

It was sunny, hot, and windy. Our daughter was ten days overdue. We went to the hospital in the morning. The doctor administered Pitosin to induce contractions. By mid afternoon nothing was happening. We hadn’t eaten, so we left the hospital to get something to get some food. A distracted woman ran a red light and creamed our car. So began twelve years of chronic back pain. The car was a trustworthy Plymouth Acclaim. It was wrecked, but after I bent the fender away from the tire, and talked to the police, we wobbled on to the Mexican restaurant my wife wanted to eat at. We were very hungry.

We sat down and an appetizer arrived: pickled cactus. My wife took one look at the food and went into contractions. The restaurant staff panicked and gave us the bum’s rush out the door. We made it back to the hospital just in time. Around 5:45 pm my precious Melanie Rose came into the world in a bubble; I think it’s called an amniotic sac. It was as if God wanted to protect my little girl as long as possible from the world she had just entered. I know how God feels – I want to protect her too, for as long as she’ll let me. I love you Melanie.