Skip rope rhyme

It's been a long time since I skipped rope. Sadly, the most recent -- aborted, fitness related -- effort (it's been since we moved into this house in May of 2004) resulted in an uncomfortable and long-lasting back pain. I won't do that again.

But, on Wednesday just passed I thought about learning to skip rope at the elementary school I attended in the early 1960s at Murrells Inlet and the required rhymes and chants that went along with that activity. I'd just received the joyful and anticipated call about a baby's birth, and there it was singsonging in the back of my mind: first comes love, second comes marriage, then comes (fill in the blank) with a baby carriage.

It was not quite two years ago that I officiated a sublime evening wedding at Grace Church in Ridge Spring. That wonderful couple has welcomed into their lives a son and I couldn't be more pleased, feeling slightly, peripherally responsible. They will be terrific parents. I think the world of both sets of grandparents; the great grandparents on the bride's side are favorites of both Tal and me; enthusiastic, loving aunts, uncles and cousins abound.

This is one lucky little boy. (The birth day shot here is thanks to some one's cell phone and the Internet.)