Three decades ago yesterday, my bladder awakened me in the "wee" hours of the morning(yeah, I went there) as it continues to do today.
I groggily flipped on the bathroom switch when I felt a sudden gush, thinking, "wow..I'm more tired than I thought at five in the morning.. I'm missed!"
A cranky Jim woke up, looked at me, looked at the puddle, and said, "that was no boating accident..that was a shark!"
What he actually said was:
"that was no accident..I think your water just broke."
Five minutes later, he's on the phone.
Ten minutes later, we're in the car, en route to CentraState Hospital in Freehold, and some thirty seven hours later, Evan Daniel Amster was in my arms and in our hearts.
I don't know why I had to labor so long when the C-section was inevitable.
Dr. DeNino had examined me three weeks earlier, saying this procedure would be a probability, because "You are so tight" to which I snarkily replied, "oh yeah? Then how come I wasn't more popular in college?"
Flash forward to Sunday, July 23rd, at 4:20 PM, when our crying little peanut boy entered the world and set the stage for greatness.
He was immediately placed on my swollen belly for a few seconds and I thought, irrationally, "No fair! He looks like Gertie!" as he was whisked away.
(That was the pain talking. My late mother-in-law, Gertrude Amster, was quite the looker)
Thirty years later, I look at Evan and think to myself, "for once in my life..I think I did something right..because Evan's in it, in a leading role."
Thoughtful and hilarious with good looks in that Zac Efron-ish style, gifted with his near perfect impressions of anyone from Bernie Sanders to Ben Shapiro.
His wit is keen and observational, his memory, outstanding.
At three, he could name every state in both alphabetical and Union order, plus capitals and largest cities.
In his twenties, he could recite full passages from "Pulp Fiction" and "The Room" or from past family vacations when hilarity and insanity ensued.
And just last weekend, he was both guest of honor and host at his pool party, where the weather cooperated but the house flies did not, where he was gracious and appreciative for all the loved ones who helped him celebrate.
From the fabulous array of delectable dishes, (yep..gonna brag about my shish kebab and his mother-in-law, Rita's, beautiful cake, a masterpiece in fine art) to the chaos, (YOU try and organize a pool game with 100 conversations going on at once, plus guests who didn't want to get wet, but didn't want to get over-heated either, to trying to decide if the cake should be cut inside, where wet guests shivered because of the A/C, but dry guests feared the ice cream would melt outside)to amazing gifts and compliments.
The best gift of all came from his bride Michelle, and I'm not just talking about the heart and life she shares with him daily.
I'm talking about the creativity and effort she put into developing a personalized boxed game, all about Evan, from trivia to playing cards with photos of family(even Luke!) to cards that begged for captions. It was the best gift I think I've ever seen in my life!
Happy birthday to our wonderful son, a perfect match for the marvelous Michelle.
May Evan one day be the kind of Dad Jim is..what a role model!
The signs are already there when you see how he interacts with my nephew's three children.
Michelle is the lucky recipient of the gold medal..Jim gets the silver(deservedly so--thanks, sports and politics/current events talks!) and I proudly wear my coveted bronze.
Being your Mom is more precious than all these three metals combined.
We love you to the moon and back.
Thank you, Sal Saperstein!!
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