HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTINA!

 I have made no secret of the love, admiration and pride I have for my children.  The fact that they are among the very best human beings can be laid squarely at their mother's feet far more than mine, and, of course, genetics (again, reference their mother).

Christina was always the more determined child, serious in so many ways, brooking no nonsense, yet she had a marvelous sense of humor (even if it took a while to get the joke) and an amazing sense of fantasy.  For several years, I think she may have actually believed that I was her identical twin brother, Fred Ingrid House; more likely, though, she tolerated my warped sense of humor.  Age the age of three, she was a whiz at Concentration, usually beating the pants off my father, who was prone to say that he'd put his money down on Christina any time.  We had been calling her Christy since she was born, but one day, in either kindergarten or first grade (I forget which), she came home and informed us her name was Christina -- and that was that; she's been Christina ever since.  We never had much money, but she would feel guilty when she compared her family to those of her friends; I never asked what happened in those other homes but, for Christina, ours was far more preferable.  When she was young, she was scared at how large the universe was, something I think is common to many of us.  There were several days when she would not talk to me because I had the audacity to send her Cabbage Patch doll, Callandra Jan, down an escalator alone.  She and her friends would tolerate me when we played cards, even though every game was called Mr. House Always Wins.  She helped plan her birthday parties, which were always unique and popular.  She was of the firm belief that Nancy Drew was a turnip-brained fathead.  She lost all respect for a high school English teacher when she learned the teacher had never heard of P. G. Wodehouse.  Working at Carvel Ice Cream and McDonalds she learned that it was not a wise idea to tick off the person making your milkshake or your sandwiches.  In college, she learned the two secrets of success:  first, A-1Sauce makes everything in the cafeteria edible;  second, "It doesn't matter, take a nap."  She is also color blind:  one of her college roommates was Black ("Christina, you live with me, you've met my mother, you've met my brothers, how could you not realize that I am Black?" -- true story.)  Also in college, sheer grit and determination allowed her to earn a black belt in taekwondo and to become president of the university's taekwondo club.  While working at a muffin ship in Pentragon City, she would take the unsold muffins that were to be thrown out with her and give them to the homeless on her way back to the dormitory.

After graduation, she work as an ambulance driver (where she met Walt, the man who would become her husband), and volunteered for the local Rescue Squad.  (One of the men she worked Rescue with was the person who found John Bobbitt's notorious dislodged member in the bushes.)  She became a paramedic and had many stories she did not dare to tell us.  After a brief stint in an Ob-Gyn office, she started work in the ER as a tech; the ER docs were happy when ever she was duty because things when Christina was there, things would work right.  Sometimes, she would stay in a patient's room because nobody should die alone.  When it came time for a career change, she trained as a cardiac sonographer.  Although she was not "qualified" to read the sonographs, she made sure the doctors werer alerted if she felt there was something wrong with her sonographs.  Between the ambulance, the ER, and the sonography, she saved lives -- something that she would downplay if it were brought up.  Another career change and she became a sign language interpreter, currently working the county school system; her student this year is in the first grade, and she will probably move to the second grade with him.  (That's up in the air because her parents are military and have received transfer orders but they are hoping to have the orders reversed to allow the child to stay in the school system.)

She has been her husband's biggest supporter (and he hers) as he worked his way through college and various technical certifications.  Walt now has a highly responsible management job in the computer industry working on military contracts.  The two of them have done a fantastic job with their kids.  Mark, the oldest, graduated from college this year with a degree in marine studies.  His long-term ambition is to work with venomous reptiles.  Mark is quiet and shy, traits that do not prevent him from being friendly. well-loved, and loyal.  He has an amazing sense of humor.  He is both studious and devout, an avid soccer fan and long-distance runner.  Everyone who has met Mark instantly likes him, and for good reason.  Erin just turned twenty-one and has just one class left before graduation.  She's a hard worker and wants to become a veterinarian --so it's perhaps a good sign that she loves animals, especially that phlegm-inducing allergen of a dustmop that haunts my room while she's off at school, and her two hedgehogs, Pine Cone and Potato.  Erin is smart as a whip, sweet, and beautiful.  She has inherited her mother's determination, in spades.  And Jack...well Jack is not like the others.  Christina and Walt had been fostering children for a while when Jack came into their lives at six weeks old.  He had spent the first six weeks of his life detoxing at Washington Children's Hospital.  His mother was drug-addicted.  Jack has had a number of emotional and physical problems throughout his short ten years.  Christina and Walt adopted him eight years ago and have been able to work miracles with him.  I have watched the progress he has made over the years and I am amazed at how far he's come.  He still has some ADHD issues but he is in essence a sweet child, active in sports, and desperately wanting to please.  I have no doubt that, with Christina and Walt's patience and love, Jack will become a fine young man.  We love him more than words can express.  Now, if we can only get him to study math...

Another important part of Christina's life are the animals.  There have been many over the years and Christina takes animal ownership seriously; actually, with Chritina, it's more animal stewardship than ownership.  At present, there are three dogs (Duncan, Happy, and Jolly), three cats (Sage, Sprout, and -- hiding out in Mark's room -- Willow), a tortoise (Sebastian, for whom Christina makes a tasty salad for breakfast each morning), a South American tegu (Mango, who sometimes like to escape from his enclosure),  the two hedgehogs (who travel back and forth from Tallahassee with Erin), and Mark's three snakes (a python, a milk snake, and some sort of albino snake).  

I remember vividly the day Christina was born.  A half hour later a nurse wheeled Kitty into her room while they were getting the baby ready to come up.  Kitty was hungry so the nurse went in search of food.  Kitty got up from her wheelchair and we slow danced across the room.  The nurse interrupted us with two bowls of red jello, each with a scoop of whipped cream on top.  Then she brought in Christina.  Perfect, beautiful Christina.  They say that all babies look like Winston Churchill, but Christina did not.

She looked like an angel.

Happy birthday, sweet child.