A New Generation!

My big news this week is that I'm a grandfather! Ella May Kimbro was born last Monday evening in Knoxville. We went down to see her this weekend. Daniel and Tiffany are obviously very proud. I'm excited. I've had time to mentally prepare myself for being a grandfather. My friend Curtis has been one for a while, and I've quizzed him on occasion about how it feels. What I wasn't prepared for was seeing my son as a father. Watching Daniel with Ella reminded me of seeing my father with my younger brothers when they were babies. I was a teenager when Creig and Michael were born, so I had great training at raising boys before Daniel, Cory, and Jacob came along. But, with three brothers and three sons, I don't know too much about raising girls. How interesting that I'll be learning about it from my son! I have no doubt that Tiffany and Daniel will be amazing parents.

Dianne also very excited about Ella. While many of her DC friends are just now taking breaks from their careers to start families, she's made frequent remarks about the irony of being a grandparent at barely 40. We don't know what Ella will call her yet. I'll be Grandad. Even though we are a long way from Tennessee, we're committed to being fun and available grandparents. We've done well so far seeing the boys. We haven't gone more than three weeks yet without seeing at least one of them. Hopefully Daniel and Tiffany will get to spend some time with us this spring and summer. Shore Acres is certain to be a wonderful summertime place. The spring weather is bringing out the sailboats and jetskis, and bringing in Ospreys and bait fish. I haven't had time to do much fishing, but that will change after this weekend. We've found a boat and closed on the financing. If it passes our sea-trial, we'll be bringing it home this weekend. I talked to my next-door neighbor today. He told me they baited up at night and fished off their dock for big rockfish in the summer. He also said they caught baskets full of white perch in the summer. He has a 26 ft Boston Whaler center console which he promised to take me out on in a few weeks. I may also rent a guide for a day to show me around on the Bay. -S