“Just a minute, Mom.” If I heard it once, I heard it way too much with TJ. And I’m talking about hearing him say it multiple times in just one day! We’ve joked with TJ that should he die before us we will put on his gravestone, “Here Lies TJ ‘Just-a-Minute’ Lombardi!” It didn’t matter what we asked him to do, or told him he had to do, or even when we summoned him to a meal, the answer always seemed to be the same, “Just a minute.” So, Joe nicknamed him the “just-a-minute kid” one day.
Come to think of it, TJ is such a “just-a-minute” kid that he basically did it to me when he was born. I never had any false labor with James, so we did not even give it a thought that it might possibly happen with the second pregnancy. How well I remember that Sunday morning when I woke up experiencing mild labor pains. Joe and I agreed that I should stay at home to monitor them. The youth pastor’s wife took James to church with her so that I didn’t have to be dealing with him at the same time I was dealing with contractions. I called my parents and they agreed to come right after their church service to get James. But by the time they arrived everything had come to a complete stand-still. We all went out for lunch and decided that they would go ahead and take James home with them, and if nothing happened during the night, then Joe and I would pick him up the following day.
Later that afternoon Joe and I went to visit one of the church members who was hospitalized. On the way home we stopped at a restaurant that was known for its pies, and I had one of those sudden cravings for pumpkin pie with ice cream. This kind of indulgence is a HUGE “no-no” for any woman in labor according to the “rule” that we learned about in our natural child-birth classes: Dairy products eaten in the early stages of labor would cause one to become sick as labor progressed. Therefore, Joe did not want me to eat that slice of pie a la mode. But I insisted, explaining that it had been several hours since the last contraction and all I wanted was my pumpkin pie with ice cream! And I won out!
 |
| Joe holding TJ - Sept. 1986 |
I don’t remember exactly when the contractions started back up that evening, but when they did this time there was no question – this was the real thing! TJ finally made his grand entrance into the world at 11:39 p.m. on Sunday, September 7th, 1986 - and not a minute sooner than he felt like it.
For twenty years TJ drove us nuts with his “just a minute” response. So, when we went to his Basic Military Training (BMT) graduation we were astonished to see him instantly responding to commands made by his superiors. I’m not sure just how his BMT instructor managed to undo that natural, inborn and deeply ingrained habit of his, but we were amazed to watch this feisty, petite female Staff Sergeant call out his name, and then see him immediately respond with “Yes, Mam!” Joe even congratulated her on this incredible feat during the dorm open house. She simply smiled, and we wondered: Could it possibly be that because of TJ’s USAF experience, the days of “just a minute” are now over and done with and gone forever?
Listen, I’ll get back to you on that in … just a minute!
No comments:
Post a Comment