I’m thinking right now that this post might be about godparents. If you’re a Catholic kid you’ve probably seen pictures from your baptism. Your parents look proud and your grandparents look prouder. The priest looks like he just wants to get back to the rectory and watch golf. Then there is that other couple. Who are they again?
What made your parents pick that other couple? Are they family members? Are they family friends or are they just random people that your parents hung out with around the time you were born?
It was a little nerve racking when it was time to pick out godparents for George. George’s mom picked her brother who lives in Wyoming. I picked my girlfriend from the late eighties/early nineties.
George’s mom was never really happy that my ex girlfriend was going to play this pivotal role in raising her firstborn son.
But I picked her anyway and the ex girlfriend from the Vanilla Ice/Milli Vanilli era was George’s godmother.
That ex girlfriend showed up yesterday in Riverside with an incredible gift for her godson. I don’t have to go into huge detail what the gift was, but it was something that belonged to her father and something dear to George.
George and his godmother went over things together as she instructed him what to do with her father’s belongings. George had met his godmother’s dad several times before he passed away. They actually seemed like two peas in the pod. A couple computer geeks that knew more “stuff” about everything.
So the gift was special for both George in receiving and the godmother in giving.
Now your thinking to yourself why is an old girlfriend still around after all of these years? Why does she care so much about an ex boyfriend’s son? George’s godmother arrived on Sunday with her boyfriend of fifteen years, isn’t that weird too?
Maybe in normal circumstances this might be somewhat awkward, but not in my dysfunctional family.
George’s godmother is a dear friend because my dad taught me not to burn bridges with people who at one point in life thought you were something special. At one point during the first Bush administration, this girl must have thought I was somewhat special.
But let’s talk about something special…
Fritz’s godparent are the brother from Wyoming and his wife from Wyoming. That would make them Fritz’s actual Uncle and Aunt…. Fritz barely knows them, they live in Wyoming and the uncle fled Hinsdale at eighteen and never looked back.
Hazel’s godparents consist of a friend of mom’s from college and her husband. We were actually close friends during my marriage and they were good candidates for the roll of godparents. Somehow after my marriage failed the godparents friendship with Hazel’s mom failed as well. So Hazel doesn’t know her godparents. They fled their friend from Hinsdale and never looked back.
That is where the ex girlfriend from back when Seinfeld was a new sitcom comes into the picture.
George’s godmother has taken it upon herself to take all three Shepkids under her wings. She gives them small birthday presents every year. She gives them books at Christmas time and she always writes something personal inside the book cover.
…And the best thing about the whole deal is they all know who their Auntie Amy is…
They barely know the relatives from Wyoming or the college buddy from the Kansas college via the southside. They do know and love their Auntie Amy and they have a good history with Auntie Amy.
And I have a good history with Auntie Amy. I think I picked a pretty good godmother when I picked my ex girlfriend from Oak Park.
Today’s Morning Chalkboard has the final records of the season for Chicago’s two baseball clubs. One club has a winning record and beat preseason expectations. The other club, my baseball club lost over one hundred games.
Just like Terrence Mann once said, “baseball has marked the time. It is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be good again.”
So I’ll have my Sox hat on next season when they are 0-0. Just like I have it on today when they ended 61-101.
Enjoy the Indian Summer this week and speaking of Indians… the Bears play the Redskins on Thursday. Oh wait… they’re not the Redskins anymore. They are the Commodores. I hope their defense isn’t a Brickhouse.
