Happy Birthday, Zach!!!

One of the perils of being a stay at home mom is that occasionally the days blend peacefully into one another and it is easy it loose track of the date. Here I thought today was the 8th… and in fact I am lagging a day.

October 8th is a very special day. It is the day my little brother slipped quickly into the world. His is actually the first birth I ever witnessed, though no one else who was present was aware that I was watching.

I’ve written before about the small farming village my family hails from. When I was four years old we lived in a little brick house with a green roof in the one stop light town of Ripley, NY. True, my family was getting ready to relocate to Naples, FL. We had already lived in Naples for six months (or so) in a rented condo. However, my mother was pregnant and nothing could dissuade her from giving birth to her last child in our ancestral home town. So we went back to Ripley long enough to see out her pregnancy and sell the house.

I remember my mom’s pregnancy with Zachary. I remember how enormous her belly got and I remember lovingly stroking her tummy while sitting on our green couch and wondering how on earth a baby could actually be in there. I remember her in her dark blue silk night gown with white lace trim as she poured our cereal and tried to force feed me a small glass of OJ that had the pulp lovingly skimmed out.

So, back to the birth. Ripley is approximately in the middle of nowhere. Ok, actually it is about 45 minutes from Erie, PA which is where the closest hospital is. The way my mom tells the story, she had realized she was in labor for a an hour or so and had decided to let my dad sleep as it was in the middle of the night and she thought there was plenty of time yet before it was time to go. She was wrong. All of a sudden her water broke and she could tell the baby was COMING!!!

There bedroom was just down the hall from my sister’s and I and I heard a whole lot of commotion. I remember jumping down from my bed and tiptoeing to the door of their bedroom and peering in just in time to see my little brother’s birth. I have a very vivid memory of this. But, It must be mentioned that neither of my parents remember me there (they were pretty busy though) and I was four with a VERY hyper imagination.

I also have a very vivid memory of my father running past me down the hall to call Grandma? The Hospital? I’m not sure who. But before I knew it both the ambulance and my Grandmother were there. Grandma lived just across the street, so I’m sure she beat the paramedics. I can still see my mom being taken out of our house on a stretcher with the little baby on her chest under a blanket. I was crying, and I didn’t know why they were taking my mommy. I’m sure Grandma had one heck of a time getting me back to sleep. I can remember the way she tucked me back in and stroked my back, telling me that everything was okay and that mom and dad were only going to be gone a few days, and that tomorrow I would go see them and my new baby brother in the hospital.

I really think that Zach was born on a Friday night. Because I remember the next morning when my dad came to pick Kate and I up to take us to the hospital to meet our baby brother that I was kind of bummed that I was going to have to miss the Smurfs on Saturday morning cartoons. If I’m wrong, Mom you’ll have to tell me. Zach was pretty cool, I guess. I really can’t remember much about the hospital except how happy my dad was to finally have a boy. He kept joking about having a Big Zach Attack. (You know, like Big Mac, get it? ;-) )

Zach really did turn out to be a pretty great little brother. The three of us always played together. I am two years older than my sister who is two years older than Zach, so for the most part while we were all little, we had a blast together. Mom has a great picture of the three of us. Kate and I are dressed up like nurses (complete with construction paper nurses hats that mom made for us) listening to baby Zach’s heart.

Of course here we are. Zach is now 23 and I haven’t even called to wish him a happy birthday yet. I am horrible. So, this is officially my ODE TO ZACH: The Coolest Little Brother EVER. I may have complained at the time when mom made Kate and I let him play Barbies with us, but now it’s cool that I can put that on the internet! He may have had a Ken doll, but it was totally a PILOT Ken!

I LOVE YOU, ZACHARY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!