"A Sigh of Relief"

And a very loud one...heard at York County Hospital in Newmarket, Ontario at about 6 am, 56 years ago today. The sigh was heard in the waiting room of the obstetrics ward, and was quickly followed by hugs and boisterous celebration.

Fast forward about 18 years when the sigh of relief was repeated, and then quickly followed by hugs and boisterous celebration beyond anything ever witnessed by man or god!

The first celebration and feelings of gratitude were triggered by the knowledge that the procession of girl babies into the Rooyakkers household had been at least temporarily halted. No ultrasound back then to give you any advance notice so you can imagine how special the moment must have been. After 9 months of living with the fear that the evil triplets may become quadruplets, to have that boom go unlowered must have indeed been wonderful. Frits and Petra welcomed, not just their first boy child, but an especially attractive, and as would be proven over the years, gifted, and intelligent child

The second round of mutual congratulations was motivated by the sad departure of that same prodigy from his home of 18 years. It seems that the evil triplets had maliciously, but ever so subtly been manipulating their parents feelings towards the young man, such that they were actually happy to see him leave.

Bitches!

All in good fun ofcourse. Although I did have a few run ins with my 3 older sisters over the years, I'm pretty sure that I was usually the one at fault, and in any case it don't freakin matter. And while there can be little doubt that both sighs of relief actually took place, I also believe that I came full circle with both of my parents before they made their way on.

Fast forward one more time to today. I think my Mom would be exclusively proud of me because Moms tend to be that way, while Dad would encourage me to keep doing things right, but with his usual qualifier that there may still be opportunities for improvement. I would accept both of their attitudes.

And in my efforts to follow Dad's advice I propose to use the triplets as my role models.  What do you think?

(7.3 km run, 1000 metre swim)

"It takes a long time to grow young"---Pablo Picasso

Love
Peter