Happy Birthday Heather!

Heather was born on a Thursday. It was Turlock and it was foggy.

The night before she was born, Sue and I hosted a homemade pizza party for the college youth of the Methodist Church at our house. One bachelor student asked her when she was going to have the baby, she said, tonight. This totally shocked him. How could you be so calm etc.

We had to wait until after midnight to go in.. if possible. If we waited until then, we would only be charged for the day that we came in and not another day (the night before).We had an old 1962 chevy pickup that Grandma Nellie and Grandpa Bayard had given us when our 1962 Dynamic 88 Delta oldsmobile was consumed by the cold in Gunnison. Mikie Sue (my sister) and Bob lived three doors down in the same apartment buliding on Star Avenue. Bob lived upstairs and Mikie lived downstairs under him. They were not married yet. Dad always teased them about cutting a hole in the floor of the top apartment and installing a fire pole to get to the bottom.

We all wrote down our estimates as to how much the new baby was going to weigh, We were not sure what sex she was going to be. My guess was the most accurate. I guessed 6 pounds 4 oz. She was 6 pounds 8 oz, and 21 inches long.

At 1:45. Sue tried to wake me up to go. I was a little reluctant. She called Mikie to help. I finally got awake enough to drive the truck with Sue and Mikie to the hospital. Bob to this day is put out that I didn't wake him up too.

We were lamazing until the morning sun came up into the fog. I was wearing a button down shirt and Sue had a solid grip on it. I called into my classes that day. I was supposed to go to Los Banos to do some hearing screening. We had done a preschool on the far side of Dos Palos the week before. Luckily she didn't come then.

Heather came and she was a fighter. Mom and Dad came over for Thanksgiving at Mikie's place. I watched the Thanksgiving parade on Sue's hospital TV with her, two days later. Thanksgiving was very early that year. It is very early this year too.

When it came time to take Heather home we needed 250 dollars to get her out. Granpa Ken helped us out with this cost. He even loaned us the new/used buick to bring her Heather and mom home.

Bob and I were sharing a job at the corner gas station at the time. We worked minimum wage. Dad and mom helped out with tuition. Our rent was 125 per month. Mikie had a weekend job at the pizza parlor in San Francisco. Sue tried to do the same, but only lasted two nights. The smells of that place took her out.

So.. Happy Birthday Heather.

Love
DAD