February 10, 1976

I don't remember that Tuesday.

I called Mom and asked her what she remembered of that day. She said it was very cold. She had twisted her ankle in January and her leg and foot were swollen really bad. Dad just took Mom to the hospital and then went right back home. He couldn't have stayed with Mom anyway because it was hospital policy to not let the dad's in the same room. So he went back home and cared for my other brothers and sisters.

Dr. Phoff delivered me. Mom said the labor was going well and then all of the sudden it stopped. The doctor gave her some drugs to get the labor going again. She said that she kept having contractions or whatever after I was born until the drugs wore off.

I weighed over 10 pounds. A few years earlier, some kid at church was born and weighed in over 10 pounds too. Everyone made such a fuss over it. So when I came along, everyone was making a fuss at how big I was when I was born. Mom said the other kid's name was Phillip Pye.

Mom said I didn't leave the house until my blessing day. There was lots of flu going around. I also had an enlarged thymus. I guess this affected my immune system and with the flu going around, Mom was worried I'd catch it. She knew of a couple of babies that had died because they had an enlarged thymus. I can only imagine the worry of a parent over the concern for her baby.

Here's what's happened in the world on February 10. Here's what was going on in 1976.

I share a birthday with George Stephanopoulos & Sheryl Crow.

Here's a digitized color slide of me ... probably a week or so after I was born.


What a great 30 years it has been! The Lord has truly blessed me. I'm looking forward to the next 30 years.