Just thought I should post something to follow up my birthday. Had a fun day turning older and appreciate all of the pleasant greetings via the internet and other channels. This experience with Rudy has taught us to savor the simple things and I think that’s what I liked the most about my day, starting with the happy hugs from the kids as we stumbled around the house waking up. We made sure we had extra time so we could walk to school–a more common ritual from back in the days before Rudy came.
The office was fun–Trish snuck down with some cupcakes and the team along with most of the guys in the recovery program paraded into my office about 30 strong to sing “Happy Birthday”. Then Trish treated me to lunch out at one of our favorites (Shoreline), where you can sit just off the sand, look at the ocean and think of all kinds of reasons not to go back to work. Best perk was learning that Trish didn’t treat me after all–the waitress informed us that our bill “had been taken care of”. (dining in the same place as Terry Foil would appear to have favorable outcomes! Thanks, Terry!) It’s been a beautiful week and I usually find the kids out in the pool when I get home, so I enjoyed watching them have a good time before we had dinner and I got to open my presents. After 7 months of tag-team parenting, the simple fun of being altogether hasn’t faded yet.
My birthday fun continued today as, in addition to the other gifts, I had my eye out for a stand up paddle board (much better on the back than my kayak). Found a sweet deal on craigslist this morning and snatched it up on my way home. I couldn’t resist putting it in the pool with the kids and had fun even with the limited turning radius of a 12 ft board in an 18ft-wide pool. Got me hankering for the open ocean just 3 blocks from my office. My next challenge will be to keep the people at work from noticing how many “off-site appointments” I have on windless sunny days.
Deep down, I think Rudy enjoyed my birthday too. Since coming home from the hospital, he’s been very peaceful and seems to be progressively much more observant. It turns out he has facial expressions that don’t always include a furrowed brow. Quite often he has his eyes wide open and is looking around at all the new things there are to see. This morning, I put him in his bouncy chair down by the window so he could look up at the bird feeder and the roses in the back yard–a much more interesting view than the ceiling of his ICU room. He seemed really engaged with it.
Today’s accomplishment was getting a bunch of prescriptions filled. Funny how complex things like heart caths and OR procedures get done with very little effort on our part, but then what would seem to be a relatively straightforward prescription refill can take four trips to the pharmacy and multiple calls to insurance carriers. The upside is we now seem to have located a pharmacy with great service and awareness of Rudy’s needs. The down side is that I don’t always have a longshoreman nearby to translate some of the angry words my wife uses as they fall upon my chaste ears.
We realize that having Rudy home means we aren’t able to post as regularly. As some have commented that no news often makes them fear that something is amiss, I think it’s safer to assume the opposite. If an emergency arises, we tend to post quickly so that readers can be informed and pray. Otherwise, know that we’re just living out the fullness of life with Rudy at home. Having any newborn at home takes some attention and in Rudy’s case it’s safe to say there’s a bit more detail to attend to. Hopefully, we’ll give you more of a sense of that in future posts, but suffice it to say it’s so much better than having him in the hospital. One thing I do miss is the space for a bit more reflection that came in the hospital, so we were able to give more depth to so many of the feelings and thoughts. Probably made for better reading. Certainly made for better therapy. But thanks for your continued interest and prayers. If we look at the journey with Rudy thusfar, the one thing we can be certain of is that further twists and turns await, but right now it’s 11pm and I’m sitting in absolute quiet with him dozing in the crib next to me. There’s no beeping machines, we’re in our cozy house. This is what babies are supposed to do. Pretty cool.
Rudy's Beat 
Enjoy, and have a good sleep!
Those meds become a part of life, as we packed up for the train last week, whether going camping, vacations, etc., but how thankful we are for them. Bless you All….enjoy, Dawn’s Mom
So glad you had a nice b-day celebration with your whole family at home to celebrate with you. It’s amazing to see the positive changes in Rudy just in the past week or so. Too cool for words.
The meds stuff will straighten out as you figure out the home routines and follow ups required. A good pharmacist is a blessing and can be majorly helpful once he takes meds orally and begins to spit them at you.
You are right about the twists and turns. My unsolicitied advice is to TRULY cherish the good, normal times. I don’t mean that as a platitude I mean it for real. Not easy to do but it is my morning prayer every day…”Let today be a good day for Garrett, help me to remember to enjoy it and not sweat the small stuff.” Not deep at all but useful to me.
Kathy
Kathy
I’m so happy for the peaceful sound in your voice Rolf…thankful that you’re able to appreciate the good times too. Happy birthday again…we just had a few at our house too. Lots of love and hugs to you all, and a special baby kiss for Rudy.
My prayers today are for you all to have many, many more peaceful times at home with Rudy!
Rolf,
I am glad to hear you had a wonderful birthday. It sounded amazing and quite relaxing as well. What great surprises too! I’m glad for the update on Rudy and our prayers continue for him and your family. I look forward to hearing more fantastic birthdays for all in future years!
Melanie
Happy Be-lated stud! It sounds like a good one. Life here is slowing down and as soon as summer hits I will be esctatic! Glad things are going well up there and I miss seeing your big mug. You are a great friend and I cant wait to hit the Islands this summer!
My, what a sweet post. Thanks so much, Rolf, for taking the time to reflect on the goodness of life at the moment. I am glad your day was fun – each piece of it sounded delightful. And the shot of you and Rudy by the water is priceless! Your friend Kathy said that waking up each day and being grateful for it – despite the demands of minding/loving a chronically ill child – is deeper than most of what the rest of us ever say to you. She doesn’t think so, but it truly is. I do believe that being grateful for the beauty of simple gifts is just about the deepest thing we are capable of as humans. So – continue to enjoy this slice of normal (nearly) life for as long as you can. We rejoice with you!
Happy Birthday, Rolf! So happy life is better now that your family is back together, and that Rudy is settling in and doing well!!! You guys certainly deserve the peaceful bliss of being together and just hanging out again!
Love the standing paddle board. My husband will be jealous. He is very curious about trying it. So if it disappears on our next visit to S.B…..
Much love to you all. And continuous prayers for sweet little Rudy’s continuing healing.
We’re still here and praying! Good job, Rudy, on helping Dad have a great day!! So fun for your family to have you “home”! Sweet Baby Boy, keep up the good baby stuff!!
Love,
the Haleys!
Ahhh yes, “This is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice in it.” It sounds as though the Geylings are truly rejoicing in these days. Love it! Love it! Love in Jesus Christ our Lord, Cousin Dianna
sometimes the simplest things are the sweetest….your birthday sounds simply wonderful. I’m with you on the “no news is good news”, so I guess I’ll be hoping to NOT hear from you!
hugs all around….and blessings, Linda
How lovely to see a Bday photo of you and your youngest son on the beach!
Happy Belated Birthday Rolf! LOVED the photo of you and sister Andi in your Leder Hosen… that IS how I remember you NJ Geylings the most! You haven’t changed a bit since that old country photo… 🙂 Thank you for sharing your birthday photos. Thank you too for your words which are a reminder for me to always be appreciative of the seemingly little things that can too often be taken for granted… quiet time and a cozy home with family all together. Continued blessings to all of you! Love, The Borkovich Family