Rant #2,409: Daydream

Today is a big day in my life.

No, make that a huge day in my life.

Today is one of those days that stay with you your entire life, a day you never forget, a day that changed your life forever.

And today is part of my personal cycle of stupendous days that I told you about a couple of Rants back, which begins with my birthday on April 28 and ends with the 50th anniversary of my bar mitzvah party on May 24.

(My bar mitzvah ceremony was on May 9, 1970, but we had the party two weeks later. Another story for another time ... .)

Anyway, what makes today such an important date in my life.

Today is the day, 32 years ago in 1988, that I became a father for the first time.

If you are a parent, I don't have to tell you the joy that childbirth and parenthood brings to you, and it certainly brought that to me, and still brings that to me all these years later.

I liked it so much the first time around that I even had the audacity to do it again seven years later.

And like my own birth, my daughter's birth represented a lot of firsts in our family: my first child, my parents' first grandchild, and my grandparents' first great grandchild.

And my daughter was extra lucky, because she got to know not only her grandparents, but here great grandparents--three of the four on our side of the family--as she grew up.

Her great grandparents are now gone, but on my side of the family, her grandparents are still with us, still vital, and love her to the max.

It hasn't been easy to either me or them over the past 32 years, what with divorce, separation and a lot of inner tumult, but my daughter has persevered. She and I don't have the greatest relationship--and I really wish it was better--but zI guess it could be worse.

Due to the pandemic and other factors, we have not seen each other since December, but we talk on occasion through messaging. I did speak to her one-on-one on the phone for a few minutes on my birthday, and I will call her today, and give her my best regards.

And in an eerily parallel universe that we share, today this year is also extra special for both of us, or at least definitely extra special for her and potentially extra special for me,

On her end, this is the weekend she earns her masters degree, so I guess I can say that she is a "chip off the old block," as I earned the same degree 37 years ago. Her degree is in special ed, I believe, and will help her at her job as a teacher at a residential center for at-risk young women. Maybe it will help her get an even better position there or elsewhere, but I am proud that she earned it.

Of course, this year, the ceremonies will be virtual, and she has given me the address to tune in, and I will do just that.

On my end, today is the day I find out if I won the contest that I entered my novel into. I read yesterday that the contest received 50 or so submissions, so I have a one in 50 chance of winning.

I know, the odds are not in my favor, but let's remember that the odds probably were not in my favor--and were probably much worse--when I won the trip to South Korea a few years back, so as they say, "you have to be in it to win it."

May 15 is always a special day in my life, and this year, I can say that it is even more special than it normally is.

Again, I want to congratulate my daughter on reaching another birthday, and also for obtaining her masters degree. It is difficult to reach each of these accolades, and she did it!

I am a proud papa today, and I hope that she knows that.

Speak to you again on Monday. Have a great weekend.