Ten Years

In roughly twelve hours from now, I will have been a father for ten years.

I remember the day vividly. We had been sent home from the hospital several times for false alarms and that sucked because the hospital was in Camden (Lady of Lourdes) and we lived in Cherry Hill.

Labor was awful and Deb didn't hold back her displeasure with the discomfort she was feeling. The nurses looked at me and told me that they were not allowed to hit her but since I was her husband, I could do whatever it took to calm her down. We were going to be bringing my parents their first grandchild and it would be the first boy on Deb's side of the family in around 25 years. It would be a historic moment and I knew that I would never forget any of it.

Of course, in the end, Deb delivered the most precious gift to us and to the world.

These ten years have not been slow to pass. No, they've been lightning fast - just like everyone told me they would be. Of course, we have had two more gifts since then with the arrival of Hannah and Sadie, but those are memories for another post.

Becoming a parent not only changed my life, it's practically made my previous life disappear. I don't have many memories of life before fatherhood. Most everything in my memory banks now involves the kids in some way. I am perfectly OK with that because, as I've said many times before, I believe the reason that I am on this earth is to be a Daddy. Now that I've been a Daddy for almost 25% of my lifespan, I feel like I am finally getting a grip on how to do this right. It's both the most wonderful and most challenging thing one could ever do and I would not trade it for anything in the world.

So thank you to my parents for teaching and preparing me for December 11, 1999. Thank you Deb for so perfectly marinating our son for nine months and for keeping it together on the table that morning. You did great. And Happy Birthday to life's most wonderful gift and the most remarkable and beautiful boy on the earth...

Elijah Jonathan Borenstein.

I love you!!!!

Coming Home

I've been slowly phasing out the blog at Jawdy's Basement in recent months.  This has been a work in progress now for six years and this is post number 210.  I've gone through phases with the blog throughout the years and have experienced times of incredible inspiration and times of incredible non-inspiration.  Over the last year or so, I have felt more uninspired than anything else and have therefore written far less posts.

It's funny because sometimes people will say to me, "just write something!"  They don't understand that I don't write for the sake of getting another tick on the number of posts chart.  I write because I am called to the computer to do so - no other reason.  I just have not been called to the computer to write much over the last 12-18 months or so.  Not your fault!  :-)

In addition to the inspiration factor, there's been Elijah's incredible journey into the best game in the land - Baseball.  He's become obsessed over the last 8-10 months and now knows more about most of the players than I do.  He's really gotten into Baseball Cards and I have jumped in with both feet with him.  As a result, I spend most of my creative computer time making videos on YouTube with Elijah as we open boxes of baseball cards and report the contents.  We have become quite popular over there and the number of YouTubers who have subscribed to Jawdy's Basement videos is now over 320.  Along with that venture, I have partnered up with another YouTuber named JoshSamBob as co-authors of the Baseball Card blog, Cardaholics Anonymous.  I've been posting there for the last month about the hobby.  Finally, there is the mighty Facebook.  I've been regularly updating the comings and goings there for the past year or so.

Anyway, I have no intention of closing Jawdy's Basement down here.  I am just waiting for the inspiration to return....which just may happen now that Jawdy's Basement is moving back to NJ.

It's a long story that I won't go into much here but I will give you some bullet points:

• In Tuesday March 3, I got word from my corporate headquarters that the company was closing our Utah and Chicago branch locations
• I was offered a job in NJ at the headquarters in a similar role
• The job in NJ begins on April 6th, which gave me under four weeks to move my family of five to NJ
• I laid off my entire staff on March 5th, an excruciating day that I hope to forget very quickly
• I 've been spending some time in the office here in Utah wrapping up operations and boxing up items for shipment
• My full-time job this month is preparing the house for sale, as it goes up on the market on April 1st
• The five of us are flying to NJ on April 1st.  Four of us have one-way tickets.  Deb will return to Utah on the 11th and live in the house while it, hopefully, sells.
• Elijah and Hannah are enrolled at Bret Harte school and Sadie will be at the JCC in Cherry Hill full time beginning on April 13th.
• We will be living at my parent's house for the foreseeable future....at least until the house in Utah sells.

Part of the "deal" that was cut with me from my employer is that, although they are giving me a job, there is NO relocation involved.  Zero.  Sooooo, doing some quick math....it cost them just under $25,000 to move us here in 2006, and it will cost them NOTHING to move me back.  Yeah...that means selling all my stuff and going on the cheap.  So far, I have sold a leather couch, table and chairs, refrigerator, commercial freezer, BBQ, lawn mower, backyard furniture and the piano that has been in my family for over 45 years.  That last one was the biggest bummer but the buyers are close friends of mine here so I feel good that they will take care of it.

Once the house sells, I will take a long vacation and fly out here with Dad and a friend or two.  We will rent a truck and pack it with the stuff I have left.  Then drive it across the country and put the stuff in storage.

I am shipping one car on a carrier this Thursday so I have something to drive in NJ.

Crazy, huh?

The kids are happy.  Elijah's first words were, "I'M GOING HOME!!"  Says a lot, doesn't it?  Utah was never home for him.  The girls are excited too.  The adventure is over.  

So there's the update.  I am sneezing my way through the dust each day and donating literally thousands of pounds of stuff to Deseret Industries.  They are coming with a truck to haul away our goodies and there will be lots of underprivileged kids in Utah having great Christmases this year!

It will be starting from scratch back in NJ, that's for sure.  The good FAR outweighs the bad.  I've been doing a lot of thinking about that lately and made a little chart so I could really gauge the return fairly....

The Good

1. Family.  I get to finally be a real uncle to Mick, who is two years old and slowly becoming a Mets fan.  That has to stop.  
2. Friends.  Never connected with anyone out here that could compare.  I've missed my boys immensely.  Breakfast Club will return at the Country Club Diner and all will be well in the world.
3. Jews.  Yes, yes, yes....I know.  Those who know me well are aware that I am not a big fan of the "yenta" neighborhoods.  However, I smiled when I realized that the week we return, the kids will have DAYS OFF for Passover.  Here, when you say Passover, they think you are referring to a highway.
4. Food.  Mexican food is great here.  Best in the world....and I've eaten the food in Mexico.  However, the rest of it sucks.  They don't have good Chinese or Italian here.  The bagels suck.  The cream cheese is all whipped.  Whatever.  I need lox.  You ask for lox here and they send you to the hardware store.
5. Education.  Overcrowding is a huge issue here in the youngest state in the country.  30 students in a classroom is too much.  Education is not Utah's strong point.  I am happy the kids get to return to an academic area where 10 year olds get their trust funds garnished if they get a 'B'.
6. Philly, New York, The Shore.  Spencer and Lynne already have dates picked out for us to stay at the shorehouse with Spencer's parents.  Awesome.  I miss the cities and can't wait to return to Philly cheesesteaks and Tastycake.  Fugetaboutit.
7. THE PHILS!  Elijah has a schedule and is circling the 82 games he wants to go to this season.  Next year I will have to re-up my season tickets so he can go yell at the players.  "WHAT THE CRAP, VICTORINO!!!!"

The Bad

1. Climate.  There nothing like standing outside on a 70 degree day with 15% humidity and blue skies.  Nothing.  OK - better description - I didn't sweat here.  Yes, read that again.  It's true.  No sweat.  When I go to Philly, my head gets shiny and does not dull down...ever.  I am going to miss the climate here immensely.
2. Nice People.  Go through the Drive-Thru at McDonalds here:  "Good afternoon Mister Sir.  What can I interest you in on this fine 70 degree day with 15% humidity?"  Smiles all the way.  In Cherry Hill?  "DUDE - you're up.  Waddaya want for lunch?"
3. Money.  It goes way farther here.  WAY FARTHER.  Our home here is 2,300 square feet and we pay $2,000 per year in property taxes.  That's about a quarter's worth in NJ.  Car insurance - same thing.  It will cost the same amount for Sadie in daycare in NJ as it did for BOTH Sadie and Hannah here.
4. Mountains.  Just amazing creatures, they are.  To experience a 30 degree temperature drop in a five mile drive from my house is amazing.  So much so that I would choose to vacation here in a second and probably will return in that capacity at some point in the future.

There are other things I will miss about Utah as well, like running my own office and working three miles from home.  However, NJ wins out on the important stuff.  Maybe the jerks at McDonald's will keep me from eating Big Macs.  Nah.  Let's not go that far....

So...there's the story.  Life starts a new chapter on April Fools Day, 2009.  I've always been a guy that has trouble thinking past his next fifteen minutes.  Honestly, I have no idea what the future brings.  In a way, it's another adventure just as the move to Utah was to be.  This time, though, one thing is for certain - the chapter won't end in another move.

Thanks for reading...now back to your regularly scheduled humidity.

jb

Dinner Conversation

"Mommy you have big nipples."

"What?"

"Mommy you have big nipples.  I have small nipples.  See them?  They are small nipples.  Yours are bigger."

(Sadie pulls her shirt down and shows her nipples, which are intermixed with some of the Rice A Roni shes been dropping off her fork all meal)

"Sadie, which one is your nipple?"

"It's the brown one that tastes like chicken"

Hannah's Big Night

Tonight we returned to the Tabernacle Hall on Temple Square for the annual Interfaith Concert. This was the same concert that Elijah got to sing in last year. This year it was Hannah's turn and she did great! It was a fun night! Check out the compilation video here!

The Greatest Date

Hello, blog. My name is Jordan. Remember me? It's been awhile......

Happy New Year? It is January 2009, right?

Somehow I've lost some track of time here....it's been over a month since my last post and I have no excuses. The New Year came and went and here we are in mid-January and the days are just passing by....

This past Saturday was a good one, though. I had the best 5-hour date ever! It started about a week ago when Hannah asked to speak to me in private. She pulled me into the bedroom and sat on the bed. She looked serious. I asked her what was on her mind and she kinda beat around the bush for a few sentences. "You know how you spend all that time with Sadie?" Oh boy, I thought. She's sad because we have not had a lot of alone time in awhile. "Well, um, I think you should spend some time with JUST ME."

So we planned a date. I told her to think about what she wanted to do and we would do it! Friday night she had trouble going to sleep in anticipation. Saturday she got up and put on the outfit that she knew I loved the most. Then, around noontime, we set off...

1st stop: Toys R Us. Hannah wanted to go in and look at toys to get an idea of "what I can get for my birthday and next Hanukkah." We walked the entire store and looked at all the Hannah Montana stuff. You can't walk into a retail store of ANY KIND and not see something with Hannah Montana's face on it anymore. It's overkill to me but to Hannah - it's friggin awesome. I ended up getting her a waterbottle with her name on it. Cheap date so far!

2nd stop: Macaroni Grill. It was time for lunch. We drove to Hannah's favorite establishment - the Macaroni Grill. We got a table for two and read the menu. Hannah asked the waitress for "a kid's Coke, a salad with white ranch dip dressing with extra tomato and a kid's mac n cheese please!" I had a soup and sandwich combo.


Hannah shared my soup. It was delicious! Hannah didn't really like the oil dip for the bread but that's OK because she had crunchy croutons in her salad.


3rd stop: Olympus Lanes for a couple games of bowling. Hannah's been asking to go bowling for awhile now and since she can lift 6 pounds now (the lightest ball), we decided to go. She looked so damn cute in her bowling shoes and black tights!!! Hannah rolled the first few frames without a ramp but the ball got heavy so she used a ramp for the rest of the two games. She did great!!!




4th and final stop: Barnes and Noble. I love taking the kids there because they love the kids book section and they have a cool cafe where we can get hot cocoa. Hannah and I spent over an hour in the cafe. She had a hot cocoa and a chocolate chip cookie and I had a coffee and a peanut butter cookie. We played checkers for the entire time and Hannah nearly beat me!! I could not believe it! She refused to say "King Me", instead opting for "Queen Me." She shouted it out everytime she reached the back line. "QUEEN ME, Daddy. You are in TA-RUBBB-LE!" Afterwards, as we were getting up to leave, a woman who was sitting next to us the entire time told me that I had the most adorable daughter she'd ever seen. I told her she was a good judge of character.


We got home after 5pm and Hannah was beaming. A day with Daddy. I had just as much fun as she did. I also think it's important for her to experience what it's like to be treated right on a date and to demand respect and courtesy when she's on a date. Hopefully she will take these experiences with her for the rest of her life.

Next week it's Sadie's turn for a date with Daddy and then Elijah the week after. We are starting a tradition!

I LOVE YOU HANNAH!!!