FEBRUARY 28, 1979

There they are, two great happy, hapa Pinoys, 11 months separating them in age.  Starting today when you open this they will be celebrating the short time each year when they are both the same age.  In a manner of speaking.  Of course this year they have an extra day to celebrate because of the leap year.  The one on the right is the elder and he is married while the younger is still unmarried.  So this is perhaps a good year for him because this being a leap year, tradition says that a woman may ask a man to marry her.  A little bit like Sadie Hawkins Day, you might say. While we were waiting for the lad on the left, we were rather in a quandary as to whether or not we should want him to be born on the same day of the same month as I was.  As it turns out, there was nothing to worry about because he surprised us and got here about one week before my birth anniversary day.  Belle and I were talking about it the other day.  She had gone to work with the knowledge that she had a doctor's appointment at the end of the day.  Around 4:30 or so.  I was at work, but I wasn't worried because my mother-in-law was home at our house.  
As the story goes, when Mama got in front of the doctor, he and the attendants began to giggle a little bit. One of them asked Belle if she was parked in long term parking.  Without knowing too much what to make of the query, Belle said that she didn't think so.  "Oh", said one of them, "maybe you should call your husband to tell him to come to move the car.  It looks like you are going to be here for a while."  They were right, of course.  I did go there, I did move the car, and a little later that night Jo-El was born.  It was a rather exciting event.  The most exciting part of it for me was that when I went to the hospital early the next morning after the cesarean procedure, Belle told me that she had named the baby Jo-El, because she said that she wanted her child to have God's name.  So he has God's name.  But you know something, for the first few years it was kinda like Hell.  Computers in the early days could not understand the dash [ - ] between the "0" and the "E" so it took a while before the world got to know the man's real name.  
Actually, we were all ready with a name from the moment of conception.  It was to be Hannah, the holy mother of Samuel.  We had never even bothered to cope with the off-chance that a boy would be born.  What a change from the first time.  In that case we had a masculine name and a feminine one all set and ready to go.  So, the guy is born and we are not happy with the name we had decided on 8 months prior.  It took us about 5 or 6 days before we [she] finally came up with one. The minute she said it, I knew it was right.  So we are happy.
That experience taught me that the Jewish people have it right when they grant citizenship through the mother.  It is the mother who knows whether or not the name will fit.  The intimacy between the two makes it that way. So anyway, this is a great day for Jo-El.  Thanks for keeping him in mind.