It’s hard to believe that almost exactly 11 years from when most of you will read this, I was in a room with my family pounding cans of Natural Light from a cooler my brother had brought for me.
He brought a 30 pack because he’s always good about making sure we don’t run out of fun juice.
No, we weren’t on vacation in some beach front hotel room, rather, the reason for the beer was to celebrate the birth of my first born child, Ace!
She’s fucking 11!!
The nurse came into the room and sort of gave me a look like, “Really dude? Natural Light cans here in the room?”
I asked her if it was okay and she was totally cool about it.
“Just throw the empty cans away outside so it doesn’t stink up the room.” Was her only rule. Well, that and “She *nurse points to Wife* can’t have any.”
That was fair enough, more beer for me then, and we drank beer as we do when we have any reason to celebrate. I’m sure the wife was thrilled, but that’s how we roll.
As most of you know, I gots me two sons, Cool (5 now) and Gman (3 already).
They get a lot of play on this here blog because they’re sort of a team and they fuck things up all funny like together and make me chuckle. They’re boys, so doing stupid shit is in their nature.
Before the boys came along, however, I had me a girl.
A really special girl.
Ace mostly rolls her eyes at the boy shenanigans in the house, so it’s more difficult to catch her doing silly things. She does them, sure, but not as blatantly as her younger brothers.
Ace is a few years older than the boys because three weeks after we had her, I started law school. I was in law school, working my regular job as a cop and still working my secondary jobs too, so Wife was basically a single mom for much of Ace’s first few years.
I was always working or studying, so it wouldn’t have been fair to either of us to spit out another kid in the middle of trying to figure out how not to screw up the first one, so we waited.
That gave us a good run with the best girl a dad could ever ask for!
It seems like just yesterday we celebrated her first birthday. A friend of mine’s husband was director for the county parks and he got us a pavilion at a local park as well as some swim passes, all for free.
It sounds great, right?
It was, except for the fact that it was 137 degrees outside that day and I decided it’d be fun to barbecue for everyone. It was HOT.AS.BALLS!!
Happy first birthday, Ace.
We made it through that day and learned our lesson about outside birthdays in July.
I assumed we could get away with just not celebrating her birthday ever again, but that didn’t fly.
Sorry kiddo, it’s too hot for that shit!
She’s been a good sport considering she has the DOAT for a dad.
I know most of you think that’d be pretty awesome, and it is, but it’s not all fun and games. She works around the house, and always has.
Not pictured – daddy drinking in a lawn chair nearby.
I was thrilled when she decided to dress up like her daddy on her first Halloween!
Moooooove your asses people, the cutest cow couple ever comin’ through!
She likes to play softball and has always had a pretty nice swing.
Ready to rip it!
She’s also pretty good about sizing up the enemy when they get on base.
I’m not impressed with what I see here.
She’s an amazing kid and I couldn’t be more proud of her.
She wouldn’t want to admit it, but she’s got some goof in her. She’s more like her dad than she probably cares to admit.
Sorry kid, it’s true.
We’ve always enjoyed our time together, whether it was riding horses.
It sounded more fun than it actually was.
Teaching her gang signs.
Fo shizzle daddy.
Or just smiling for the hell of it.
Smiling for the hell of it.
Here’s a couple of pics so you don’t have to read my words for a few scrolls. You’re welcome.
Gratuitous hat pic.
Gratuitous bath pic.
Hahaha, and finally, here’s my baby girl and my mostly beloved Jojo. Ace has fed Jojo since she could walk, and still does to this day.
Even at 13, Jojo gets right up on her like she was below, back when she was a more spry 5 year old.
OMG OMG OMG…FEED ME!!!
That’s all I got! This post was mostly for me to reminisce, but I hope you’ve enjoyed the Ace pics at least!
Have a great weekend.
