Family, friends and "who the hell was that?"

FAMILY

I'm not sure what it was, tv, books, active imagination...but all thru my young adult life, especially the older I got, a strong sense of family became something in life I really wanted. The gatherings at the holidays, or just gathering to gather. It didn't matter to me, so long as it was family. The very first time I got to meet Crystals family, I was, or at least it felt like I was, accepted right away. I was still nervous to be around them cause part of me just wasn't sure, but in the last 2 and a half years, that's pretty much gone now when I'm around them. Every time we get together, it feels like I always pictured it growing up and into an adult. With Elliot getting here, it became very evident to me that this is a family that will do whatever, whenever its needed. The rallying of support has been non stop, and much appreciated. With out fear of sounding like a puss, its a nice warm and fuzzy feeling all over :)

FRIENDS

Or maybe a better term would be "extended family". I've learned in a hurry there are just a limited amount of types of people. Those that you know, and those that you go out of your way to know. Its amazing to me how some people can be so giving and loving. For instance, an officer friend that I occasionally chat with over the computers at work, out of the blue made sure his phone number was passed along to me thru 2 others of my coworkers. So I called him and talked to him, he asked what hospital we were in and if it would be ok to show up and say hi, so of course I told him sure...Who am I to deny someone from seeing the cutest kid alive? Now keep in mind, this is a person I've met in person 1 time, for a total of about 20 seconds, I was riding along one night w/ another officer friend and we met up in a parking lot, shook hands and then he got a call and we didn't a chance to talk again that night. So here he comes and shows up at the hospital w/ his daughter in tow (who by the way wasn't far behind Elliot in the cutest kid ever list) totting a case of diapers and a case of baby wipes and a dozen flowers for Crystal. Pal, you scored HUGE points with me on that one, not cause of the gifts, but cause of the thought.

While that was a big gesture, a larger one hit earlier that day. A couple other friends of ours came up, R and S (the names have been left out to protect the guilty, er...innocent..something). A little back ground on R and S, R used to work with Crystal and I, S is a Portland police officer. These 2 people are so F'ing nice, it blows me away. They are so high on the nice scale, the clown in 3rd place could be considered an Ahole. Yes, they are that nice. They showed up with a card that Crystal opened and set down, thank god I didn't open it and read it in front of them, cause when I finally did, I balled like a baby...there, I said it, I really do have feelings. Inside this card was written that they wanted to be our "slaves for a day", now that in and of itself may not sound like much, but it sure felt like the world to me. That's better than any material gift, the offer to just "lend a hand", huge guys, huge! We had talked and you had mentioned it to me, but at the time for whatever reason (probably cause I was worried about the whole pump fiasco) it just didn't sink in till I read the card later after you'd left...and for that I'm sorry, I should have taken a breath and thought about your offer when you said it out loud so I could have told you in person how much that meant to me. For the 2nd time in this post, I'm going to expose my heart again...I love you guys, seriously, if you guys ever need anything I better be the first person you think to call, cause I assure you, I'll be there.

"Who the Hell was that?

Relatives I've never met from Crystals side of the family have been coming out of the woodwork to see Elliot, and who can blame them really (see the cutest kid ever comment above). I wonder if this is what those people that win the lottery feel like, "Hi, I'm your cousin twice removed on your dead great uncles side of the family, how the hell are ya!" um...good I guess...who are you again? 2nd cousin twice removed from who? Do you have a diagram that explains that, I'm a little tired and cant seem to figure it out on my own right now.


Elliot Update:

The little bugger is kicking ass and taking names..or he would be if he could get up and walk, and use his opposable thumbs. He is eating really really well now and putting on weight. The IV is out so now he just has his EKG,breaths per minute, and O2 saturation monitors on him, which I don't think he really needs, but whatever, the insurance is picking up the tab so the hospital might as well milk it for all its worth. The Dr. told us today that so long as he keeps putting on weight, he should get to come home sometime Friday. WOOT!!! Hopefully this weekend I'll get a link set up on the main page to take folks to a picture gallery.