While his parents plan to call him Bo, he has a name of which he should be very proud. He is named for his father Daniel and for his late Great-Uncle Dan, two of the finest young men I have ever been proud to know. He has big shoes to fill in both cases, and I wish he could have known Dan, who would have been in his mid-fifties now if he hadn’t died so tragically in an accident at too young an age.

Yesterday was a fabulous February day to come into the world. It was sunny and beautiful in Alabama and temperatures reached a high of 65, as has happened often in this unseasonable winter. Bo’s mother Emily has been ready for this delivery for the last few weeks, and finally the doctor told them to come to the hospital yesterday morning at 5 a.m. Emily got the job done quickly and by the time I arrived around 11, she was sitting up in bed looking beautiful with a room full of family.

So here’s what’s in the news on your birthday Bo. There’s an economic crisis going on in Europe because several of the countries there seem to have enormous and unsustainable budget deficits, which is affecting the value of the currency for all of Europe. There is continuing chaos and threats of war among countries in the Middle East. Here in the U.S., there are some signs of the beginning of an economic recovery as employment is slowly starting to grow again and housing prices might finally be near the bottom. Interest rates are lower than they have been in my entire lifetime, and it is hoped this will stimulate economic growth. The Republican Party is holding primaries to select a presidential candidate for the next election, a very ugly process to watch.

All-in-all though, your family is doing well and you’re being born at a great time for all of us. You have lots of doting grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. You have great parents who look forward to watching you grow, and you have two wonderful big sisters who will no-doubt boss you around for the rest of your life. Your Dad is especially excited to have someone to teach to hunt and fish and play golf. You’re in for a great life.

So welcome to the world big guy. We can’t wait to get to know you better.

Last week we were in New York without a boat, but on the 4th of July we walked along the park on the Hudson River near 66th Street and watched the sailboats bobbing on moorings just off the shore. It brought thoughts of many adventures and I was a little envious of the intrepid explorers visiting the city by boat. So I was amazed to see this piece in the Sunday New York Times yesterday. It expressed my feelings exactly:

Click here to read “Sail on Sailor”.

As I’ve said here before, the Lovely Laura Lee told me her grandfather kept a daily journal and each grandchild could go back and read about the day he or she was born. So now, by tradition, I make a little blog entry for each of my grandchildren. And today, we’re happy to welcome our third grandchild, Parker Adele Tatum into the world.

Parker is the first child of my daughter Suzanne and her husband Bryant Tatum. She was born at 3:11 pm today, June 9, 2011.  She is 20 inches tall and weighed in at six pounds, 10 ounces. All of her grandparents and several other family members were there at East Georgia Medical Center to greet her. Her Uncle Daniel drove over from Birmingham arriving just in time to be one of the first visitors.

She was not an easy delivery. Suzanne had wanted to go through “natural childbirth”, but after spending all night Wednesday in the hospital and being in labor most of the day today, the pain got exhausting and unbearable and she reluctantly agreed to use epidural anesthesia. When I saw her after the delivery, she was tired and sore, but very, very happy. Bryant, the new father, seemed somewhat in a daze. He described the whole thing as the most amazing experience of his life, and he’s right.

Parker’s new doctor came in to check her out while we were there and announced that she is in fine health. After some prodding from me, she agreed that this is the most perfect baby she has ever examined.

Parker came into the world on a beautiful day in East Georgia. We’ve had some record-breaking heat over the past few weeks for this early in the summer, but it has gotten back to normal now with cool evening lows around 68 degrees and high temperatures around 90.

So what’s going on in this world that Parker’s been born into? Like her first cousins Stella and Pierce, Parker was born into tough economic times in our country. When Stella was born on August 22, 2008, I wrote that the economy was the worst I had seen in my lifetime. By the time Pierce showed up on November 11, 2009, I wrote that we were just beginning to see signs of recovery. Well, the recovery has been very slow. While we are technically no longer in a recession, unemployment is very high and there are no signs at all that housing prices are recovering. Too many people have lost jobs and houses. But Parker will be fine. Her parents both have good jobs, and she has about a million relatives hovering around that will always take good care of her.

Our country is still at war. Although we have gradually wound down our military presence in Iraq, we are still actively fighting in Afghanistan against terrorist groups. Let us hope for a more peaceful future for Parker.

Suzanne and Bryant will be great parents. I’m sure they’re both a little intimidated right now, but they will adjust quickly and do a fine job raising this beautiful little girl. And there is a huge crowd of us waiting to spoil her. So here’s to you Parker Adele. Welcome to the world. We love you already, and we’re looking forward to getting to know you better.

And just so you’ll have all the important news of the day, here’s a copy of today’s New York Times:

From today’s NY Times online

When I got to the window, they handed me my bag and said “Merry Christmas”. I held out the money and she said, “Don’t worry about it. The guy in the car in front of you paid for yours.” Dumbfounded, I asked her who it was and she replied: “I don’t know. He just said to tell you Merry Christmas.”

It made my Christmas. I have no idea who it was and I don’t think he knew who I was either. However, I had been in line for several minutes and I had noticed the Alabama sticker on his rear window.

So I recommend that everyone commit some random act of kindness today. You will make someone else’s Christmas great.

Merry Christmas to everyone. And War Eagle.