Jack turns one!

Jack turned one year old on Saturday.

I (and Teri) went to Columbus for 60 hours to celebrate his 1st birthday.  

I rode down John, a neighbor down the hall, whose son is a walk-on player for the Buckeyes having never played football in high school – an amazing feat due to his feet.  John and I were both going to Columbus, in part to watch the OSU-Wisconsin game, a major Big 10 Conference confrontation since Wisconsin knocked OSU out of national contention last year.

A poem for Jack

John and Jack

Frothing frosting

Wearing a winter present

What is this?

I think you are too old for me

Rachel invited her friends, co-workers, neighbors and some of Teri’s and my close friends: it was good to see Susan, Rhonda and Chris, Peg and Rick, Lilly, Jack and little Rachel.  Teri would be busy showing off Jack.  He takes 5-6 steps but he walks about constantly with his baby walker doing a baby marathon equivalent.  ‘Da’ is his favorite and only word, intoned from growl to high pitch.  If you ask him to clap, gong xi, wiggle, he will do it, and smile.  He ate the frosting from his birthday cupcake, became buzzed, and walked even faster.  

I saw colleagues Carlo, Steve, Hayat and many GI nurses (still there after all these 20 years).  The new Nationwide Children’s tower, the gigantic Digestive Disease Center, and the brand new (3rd) research building make it unrecognizeable from my last visit.  Ironically, the new hospital looks remarkably like Children’s of Wisconsin here.  I had lunch with Bob a former colleague who has left Nationwide Children’s.  Jack’s birthday party.

I went to the OSU-WI game with Rick.  It was an instant classic that turned on a turnover, several long plays, and two touchdowns in the last 2 minutes, the first for Wisconsin with 1:20 left to take the lead, and the second for OSU with 20 secs left to secure an upset win.  A great, great game to be remembered.  I’m still a Buckeye.  

Life goes on with a new cycle spearheaded by a little man name Jack.