She’s Here!

 After being in town two weeks early in order to not miss the birth, my granddaughter arrived while I was parking the car!  Rebecca went into labor on Thanksgiving Eve after a trip to the midwife that day.  Her labor was only about four hours, and apparently we waited a bit too long to head to the hospital.  She was on the maternity floor just 3 minutes before the birth!  

Joseph called me as I was entering the hospital, but I could not find a working elevator in time to get there!  I walked in the room, and the baby was already in Rebecca’s arms.  I did get to cut the cord and help take photos.

Her t-shirt definitely tells the truth

Babysitting while the parents and new baby are at the hospital.  Here we’re watching the Macy’s parade.

Rocking with Pop.  Our grandson can say “Pop” perfectly but still struggles with “Gran.” For now, I am “Dan”.  

Meeting little sister

The new baby “watches football” with me

Pop and his granddaughter

Thanksgiving

Celebrated a few days early since all the nurses in the family had to work on Thanksgiving Day!  I had done all the cooking ahead of time, and I’ll definitely be doing that again.  It was never so easy.  

Waiting for Baby

I missed the birth of my first grandchild due to Covid, so I wanted to be sure to be in Richmond in plenty of time for my granddaughter’s arrival.  Rebecca’s midwife thought she might go early AND fast, so I cleared my calendar and left town.  And then had two leisurely weeks to hang out before anything happened on the baby front.

I did have lots of fun times hanging out with Rebecca and being a Gran.

Also, got surprised by all the family showing up early for Thanksgiving to celebrate my 60th birthday!  

(Everyone but Noah and my new granddaughter).

Football is Back!

You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and Terry and I both missed being in a big crowd at a football game.  We went to one game in 2020, and it was sort of sad.  

This year football was back in a big way!  We went to the Ole Miss vs. Tennessee game, which turned out to be a fun one, though famously rowdy!  

Tailgating at Calhoun’s

The Vol Navy

The stadium was full!

Maymont

 Had a wonderful time visiting in Richmond in October.  We took a beautiful walk and had a picnic at Maymont.  

Goodbye to Jingle

Somehow Terry and I have managed to live sixty years, most of them with a dog as a pet, without ever having to do any elderly dog care or think about putting one down.  Jingle had declined a lot this past year and was diagnosed with degenerative myelopathy.  We knew she was not going to get better.

We scheduled a visit to the vet, and Noah scheduled to come home for the weekend.  We had a lot of good times with her before we said goodbye.  It was still hard, and it was the saddest day of 2021 for me. I’ve got some other photos but since we all have our ugly cry faces, I won’t include them.

Jingle was a great dog.  Terry and I had both always had cocker spaniels, but Jingle has sold me forever on getting a puppy from the pound.  She was well-loved and lived a good life.  We will miss her.