No, not the fruit.
And not the social meeting with another person either.
Instead, as I tend to do around here, I'm going to go off on a calendar date of some significance.
Yesterday's date to be exact.
The Heir to the Throne turned 15 yesterday. 15. Yeesh. I feel old(er).
All bias aside (not really, but it's my blog and I don't really care if I'm biased or not) he's a pretty special kid. He's smart and smart-alecky. He's proven to be a pretty amazing older cousin and he dotes on the younger ones, just as they adore him. He's learning very well what it takes to suck up to me, even though he doesn't need to. As I said when I referenced the Reigning Princess, he had me right from the start.
He's had to deal with more grief, at a very young age, than anyone should ever have to deal with; losing first an aunt, then a grandma, then an uncle, then a great-grandmother, all before he hit his teens. He's gone through life with the Boy Child and me as the primary male role models.
Talk about an uphill battle...
Here's an example of why I think this kid is so special *pulls grandfatherly bragging platform out*
This past summer a tornado hit the small town a couple miles to the west of where he and the Oldest One live. As did many others out that way, they went over to help in the aftermath; cleanup, organizing supplies that came in for the stricken, etc. A week or so after the tornado hit, I called him to see if he wanted to go to the batting cages with me. It's something we've been doing for the last several years. He loves baseball, he's a pretty good player, and I enjoy helping him with his swing. He didn't jump at the offer like he usually does, but said, sure he'd go with me. I talked to the Oldest One a little later and she told me why he was hesitant.
He wanted to go back over to help with the recovery some more.
Rather than go goof off with me, he felt like it was more important to help his friends, team mates and classmates that had lost so much.
Who am I to say no to that?
I called him up and told him how very proud I was of him and told him to go help wherever he could, that doing that was so much more important than what we would do. And I told him how very proud I was of him for being so selfless.
See what I mean?
I saw a picture that he posted yesterday, I've seen it before but not in a while and I wanted to share it here, along with some of my other favs from over the years.
Here he is with the Blond Child.
And here, his Nana.
And, finally, one with Sophie.
Lastly, as I try to wrap this thing up, there's a reason I wanted to do this today. Aside from writing about a great kid, that is. He posted something on his page yesterday and reading it broke my heart. A classmate of the Heir's took his own life three days ago.
He was 14.
And the victim of bullying.
This needs to stop. How did we get to this point in our collective history, where a 14 year-old feels so hated, so unloved and feels like life has given him (or her) such a raw deal that they feel they have no choice but to take their own life? Or take the lives of others for that matter?
We all know (or should know) the statistics, we've lost more veterans to suicide than we lost in combat in Iraq/Afghanistan. Now, in my profession, we're learning similar statistics.
I don't pretend to have any answers, though I wish I did. I wish it was as easy as; be nice, be respectful, be considerate.
But it's not.
Or maybe it is? Maybe that small thing, something we're all capable of doing, can help to make a difference. I don't know.
Every human life has value.
And every one of us has demons.
Please don't let them get the best of you. Please remember you are loved. And please, if you know someone going through a hard time, for whatever reason, reach out to them and reassure them as best you can.
Peace
As I was driving home from work this morning, after a couple of button punches, the David Bowie classic "Changes" came on my radio.
And it made me stop and think a bit. I've (obvs) mentioned changes in (random southern-speak alert!) these here parts in the past a time or two and will again in the future, I'm sure. But today I've got changes on my mind...
We were sitting at the kitchen table this morning chatting with today's shift pre shift change, when Kevin mentioned today was Rochelle's last day in the ER. Ro is one of my favorite people on the planet and she's been a regular presence across the street for over ten years. I had no idea she was leaving, apparently mention was made of it at one of our paramedic training sessions recently but I must have missed that one. So, on the way home, I swung by the ER to say goodbye and fare-thee-well to a dear person.
Ro was standing at the Charge Nurse station when I walked up behind her, put my arm around her and asked "why was I not consulted on this?"
She jumped back, got a big smile, immediately followed by a sad look on her face.
I felt the same way.
She's moving up to one of the floors, she said it was time, and I wished her well. She was on the verge of getting emotional (me too) but managed to laugh it off and said she'll be down to visit from time to time.
Rochelle is an outstanding nurse with a great sense of humor and those of us that had the joy of interacting with her will miss her. And I'm sure every one of us wish her nothing but the best.
This next point, in itself is no change because I've hated winter for quite some time now. But I've found myself looking at retirement locales recently.
Warm(er) weather locales.
As in, not northern Illinois locales.
Today I checked out my pension calculations. I was curious what it would be if I left in two years, three years and two months.
Yikes.
I'm not leaving in two months. I don't think. I'd really like to stick around long enough for the Heir to the Throne to come to work with me and do a ride-along and he's supposed to be 18 (again, yikes! 18? yeesh) for that to happen. I think. Maybe 17. Maybe I'll get confused in a couple years and think he's 18 when he's really only 17...
Stranger things have happened. Just sayin...
Speaking of which, I've been on a small roll of late in that I've been "on time" for the last few appointments and/or meetings and/or gatherings of one sort or another. This is no small accomplishment for me. I think I can blame these on genealogy as much as anything. At least that's my story and I'm sticking with it. My family tends to not be the most punctual, a habit that makes some crazy. Sure often times it's no big deal, but it can be construed as a sign of disrespect too, I get that. And that part of it bothers me. I'd like being punctual to be a bigger part of who I am for that reason.
Now, I wrote all that drivel to get to this...
According to the Boy Child (I believe in citing my sources whenever practical) two percent of all babies are born on their due date. Two percent. For all you non-math types out there, that's not many. You're welcome.
Grandchild number 5, granddaughter number 2 (that's one and the same person btw) arrived yesterday morning at 7:38, on her due date. She obviously gets her promptness from her Mother's side of the family. I have decided her nome de plume will henceforth be some derivative of-
Diamond
Clever, no?
And so, my little jewel (not to be confused with the Jewels) let me tell you a little about the family you've been delivered to.
We're a little off...
I mean we're all (well, mostly all) nice enough, but certainly not without our quirks. The aforementioned timeliness being one of them. We tend to be smart alecky. We tend to not always think things through as well as we should. We sometimes look good advice right square in the eye and plow right ahead with our own ideas. And we sometimes (maybe more often than we should) don't pay enough attention to the feelings of those closest to us.
I'm not particularly proud of that last one. It's caused a lot more pain than it ever should have. But since you're coming into this hot mess of a family, you need to know these things so you can avoid them.
That's not to say we have no redeeming qualities either.
They're just not as much fun to list.
And so, my little Diamond, before the wheels fall off this thing, let me just say I can't wait to meet you today. My heart has been filled with such joy since your Daddy sent the text announcing you were here that I have a hard time finding the right words and for some strange reason I keep getting stuff in my eyes since then too.
Must be awfully dusty around here.
Or something.
Peace
Many of you may recall this post from last November where I described receiving a phone call that set off a whole new chain of events, stirring up emotions that, while hardly nonexistent, tend to live somewhere buried in my subconsciousness.
Today my least favorite Governor in America (sorry, can't avoid my natural snarkiness) signed HB 3533 into law.
For those of you just joining this literary adventure, HB 3533 is an amendment to the Illinois Vehicle Code. Prior to today if someone with multiple DUI convictions (or someone that killed another person while driving drunk) wanted to apply for a new drivers license they were required to install a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device (BAIID) in their car for one year. HB 3533 changes that to 5 years with a BAIID.
I know. It's not perfect. But the reality is, if we had pushed for something like lifetime revocation with no chance at ever getting a license, people would just drive without one.
That's no good.
For anyone.
By making this compromise, we felt the odds of people complying with the new law would be much greater.
I ("we" really, but since I'm the only one writing this... you get the idea) have so many people to thank for making this happen.
It started with the kids. When I told them what happened back in November, the general consensus was "what can we do about this?" I told them to write letters (well, emails actually) to (sue me, I'm old and the words are interchangeable to me) their elected officials telling them why the law needed to change and to ask for their help.
And then, I didn't write anyone.
Well, not for a few days anyway.
When the Oldest One called to tell me she got an encouraging response from one of her emails (better?) I thought I should practice what I was preaching. I wrote to Barb Wheeler and Pam Althoff, my State Rep. and State Senator. I'd met both while on union business in Springfield over the last few years. In fact, I ran against Barb last year, my first foray into politics. But that's a story for another day. Maybe.
A couple days later I got a reply from Barb asking me if I could meet her for coffee to discuss what we wanted to try and do.
So we did. At the local Pacific northwest based, coffee beverage based, super-mega-global conglomerate (sponsorship opportunities still available btw) along with a friend of Barb's that specializes in defending people that have received DUI's.
I gave her the condensed version of our story since the Blond Child was killed and then told her about the phone call that described the drunk's latest run-in with the law. From that point on, Barb was all in. The next step was a meeting in Springfield, with Barb, Ron Sandack (81st Dist. Rep and former Mayor of the town I work in) my friend Nancy from AAIM and a couple of legislative aides. We met in Springfield and talked about what we could do to effect change. From there, based on the suggestions at our meeting, the legislative aides crafted the language that, ultimately became law.
Let me digress here for a minute. I think it's safe to say that Barb Wheeler and I are about as diametrically opposed politically as any two people can be. She's a pretty conservative Republican and I'm a pretty liberal Democrat.
We don't see eye-to-eye on much.
But we couldn't have gotten this bill into law without her.
More "Thank You's" to follow...
The bill went before the House Committee on Transportation: Vehicles and Safety on March 17th, a day that I was, coincidentally, in Springfield for my union Legislative Conference. I mentioned, in passing, to a couple of my friends, that I had to duck out briefly in the morning to testify before the committee on behalf of the bill. The Boy Child (also in town for the LC) and I sat in the committee room waiting for the meeting to start. At least 10 of my fellow firefighters from around the state walked in to the room as a show of support.
I was completely unprepared for that.
But, I managed to maintain some sense of composure and got through my testimony in about 5 minutes. One of the things Barb tried to stress to me was to be brief.
Obviously she doesn't know me well.
The committee passed the bill unanimously, by a vote of 9-0-0. More importantly, to me anyway, was that we picked up three more cosponsors, including the Chair of the committee. This brought the number up to six; three R's and three D's and that was also something that was important to me. By the time the bill came up for it's third reading in the House, on April 16th, we had added five more sponsors and again, they came from both sides of the aisle. When the vote went down I was stunned to find out it was unanimous again, by a count of 105-0-13. The 13 represented absent members that did not vote.
From here the bill went over to the Senate where Pam Althoff was it's sponsor. It had already picked up a cosponsor before reaching the Senate and ultimately would add two more. Pam asked me if I could come down to Springfield to testify before the Senate Committee on Criminal Law. Of course, I did. And on May 12th I sat before them and, just like in the house, I gave them a five minute version of what this proposed language meant to me and to my family.
It passed out of committee 11-0-1. On May 25th the bill went before the full Senate for it's third reading and as I watched the vote online I was once again pleasantly surprised to see it was a unanimous vote; 55-0-4.
Our bill would become law.
It would, at this point, become law whether the Governor signed it or not. He could veto it, of course, but with only unanimous votes, I felt confident that even if he did, for whatever reason, there would be enough votes to overturn said veto. So we waited. Even though I didn't think it would get vetoed, I knew it wasn't a done deal until it became law either through his signature or by waiting 60 days after he received the bill.
And I actually thought that was how it would go down at that point. With all the acrimony in Springfield, I didn't think this would take a high priority so I thought it would just pass through quietly.
It was sent to the Governor on June 23rd and yesterday, I got a phone call from Barb. She told me she had just gotten off the phone with the Governor's office and that he would be signing HB 3533 into law today at the Thompson Center in Chicago.
I couldn't make it in, I'm on shift at the firehouse, and the Boy Child is too. But the girls and 3/4ths of the grandkids went to witness the bill being signed. It would have been nice to be there, but with no time to find a trade, I had no choice. I'm ok with it, I didn't need to be there. And I'm glad the Heir to the Throne, Boy Genius and the Reigning Princess were able to go. I'm a big believer in civics lessons and today was a chance for them to see, and hopefully learn, something that not every kid has a chance to be a part of.
Of course, ultimately, it's a pretty rotten reason this happened, but...
So, I think that's it. Except of course for the Thanks. I usually try and avoid this, because I'm so afraid I'll forget someone. But here goes.
Thanks so much to Rep. Barb Wheeler and Sen. Pam Althoff, our original sponsors. And a huge Thank You to their staffs, the people that did, without question, the bulk of the work required to pass this law. Reps. Ron Sandack and John Anthony, the first two cosponsors in the House. Reps. John D'Amico, Natalie Manley and Kathy Willis, the cosponsors from the first committee and to Reps. Terri Bryant, Anthony DeLuca, Jack Franks, Martin Moylan, Carol Sente and Sens. Martin Sandoval, Julie Morrison and Iris Martinez for signing on as cosponsors. Thanks to the members of the AFFI Legislative Committee; Eddy Crews, Richard Martin and Chuck Sullivan and President Pat Devaney for your guidance, suggestions and connections. Thanks to AAIM and especially to Nancy Easum for your expertise in writing bills. Thanks to the many friends and family members for their support and encouragement every step along the way. Thanks to my kids. Without you none of this would have happened. Each and every one of you made a commitment to try and prevent another family from having to go through what we've gone through. And today, I think we've made a big step in that direction.
And finally, thank you to the Blonde Child and her Mother. We miss you each and every day. You have been the motivator behind everything we've done to try and prevent the pain of loss that we've felt from happening to other families.
I hope I didn't forget anyone...
Peace
