December 12, 2004
jwb
12/12/04
I'm here to celebrate two births: that of my mother 73 years ago (and still plugging away fine, thank you very much) and that of Jackson Williams Bowen at 4am Friday morning. Jackson was the eventual product of Lindsay and Dana meeting at a What Peggy Wants show in Chapel Hill in the fall of 1991, and all parties are doing exceptionally well. Except for What Peggy Wants, who broke up in 1992.
Lindsay, like we all knew he would be, has been the perfect dad so far - but Dana endured FIFTY-ONE HOURS OF LABOR and thus we salute her bravery. I was lucky enough to share the early hours of labor in their Brooklyn apartment, and was struck by the primality of the event. Suddenly our careers, the design of our living spaces, the minutiae of our fashion, all disintegrated in the presence of this incredible act.
What Dana had, was shelter and warmth. It may be the most un-intellectual feeling she will ever have, and the same will be true of Tessa. Just being there for a few minutes reminded me that we are all just mere animals trying to do our best in a scary world.
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I probably stayed too long, but I thank them for letting me in on a few precious seconds. I feel like I will be 3.7% better prepared when that day comes for us in the spring.
We crept into the hospital on Friday night to see the little guy, and he was a totally cute li'l giantette. Clocking in at over eight pounds, he already wears a size 15 Nike VC Shox hoops shoe. His tuft of brown hair is definitely from Dana's Italian heritage, and his three last names are from Lindsay's WASP background.
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So this blog goes out to five people: the two parents, who are awesome people who deserve this amazing child; to little Jackson himself, who hopefully will be good friends with our kid (and not be a bully), and to my mom, who went through all of that (and a C-section) to have me.
The fifth person is Lindsay's mother, who passed away only months before she could have met Jackson. It's the only bittersweet twinge to this, but it is somewhat heartening that just as one amazing character passed out of Lindsay's life, another equally incredible one has come into it.
Posted by irw at December 12, 2004 10:39 PMI already have the cutest little Blue Devil outfit picked out for Jackson. Way to go Linday & Dana. I'm sure Ian mentioning on Thursday night that Jackson was already here - unless Dana was in a marathon labor session - had nothing to do with instigating the actual marathon labor session. Just a cowinkydink.
Congratulations, Lindsay and Dana and Jackson!
I'd like to thank Unka Ian for hosting this little get-together, and to wish his mother a very happy birthday. I think we all look forward to many more happy years of Linda's orange rolls, free daycare, and general spoiling as much as I and my family do.
Secondly, my thanks to the voters who expressed their messages of support via email and blog for my candidacy, which, while admittedly in its infancy, is already setting records for number of downloads a day. That's "downloads" in the poopy sense, of course.
But there have been a few misconceptions in the media I'd like to address today.
First of all, birth weight. That's eight pounds, thirteen and a half ounces--which is as good as nine pounds, according to the GAO. Please give my mom credit where credit is very much due.
And I won't dignify the "bully issue" with a response, except to point out that being big and strong--like my idols Bill Clinton, Bill Bradley and Antawn Jamison--does not necessarily lead to picking on those weaker than you.
I ask you, America, is this the face of a bully?
http://www.24hourplays.com/img/14-Mama_sLittleBoy.JPG
Additionally, I'll point out that if Ian's kid is whiny, he may well deserve everything he gets. Nonetheless, if he or she gets pounded for reading Nancy Drew or waxing poetic about lattes, he or she certainly won't go running to some preemie congressmen for redress.
I'm Jack Bowen, I'm running for Senate in 2046, and I'll kick anyone's ass who gives you a wedgie.
Or tell on them, as the case may be.
Lastly, I have a vision for the Democratic Party that differs from those on this blog who say you have to be delivered in North Carolina to be a "Tar Heel born". I answer them, not with words, but a single fuzzy picture:
http://www.24hourplays.com/img/9-TarHeel.JPG
"I'm Jack Williams Bowen, and I approved this message."
Congratulations! In the middle of exams, so would write more, but glad to hear everyone's doing well. Love, DB
Congratulations to the Bowen family. Cute photos! Cute, cute, cute!! Love the tarheel photo!
Having survived 21 hours of labor myself, all I can say is 51 hours????? Good God Almighty!!! Dana, we don't know each other, but you are one Super Mama!
Thanks for the offer Scott. Like the man himself said, he's pooping an ungodly amount right now, so any gift of fabric can be put to good use. What use that is exactly depends on the shade of blue. But it'll really come in handy, either way.
http://www.24hourplays.com/img/DES-JWB.JPG
By the way, under the signature, it says "Hope to see you at Carolina one day". I think that counts as a recruitment letter (And no fair ripping this one off for your kid, Ian).
