text: August 6th, five years ago. What a day that was! Five years later, I’ve had the wonderful joy of being a dad to a “wee man” that has been nothing short of a wonderful an amazing boy. This is a boy who I can probably count on only two hands the sum total number of times he’s ever had a temper tantrum (and even then, ‘temper tantrum’ seems like an exaggeration), has been sick once, hardly ever has tears in his eyes (even when he falls and has an “owy,” he gets up, dusts himself off and says, “I’m ok. I’m fine.”), and since the first time he beamed with a smile on September 9th, five years ago (I was holding him when he did that), the smiles have seldom not been available along with the obvious joy in his face at learning and discovering new things.
  A LOT of things have occurred over the past decade. The best occurrence was the birth of David and the subsequent “being a dad” to him. When I’ve been frustrated with other things – David has been available to provide a smile, a poignant comment, and of course a hug, kiss and a “I love you, Dad.”
  Due to some extended family issues and emergencies, we were not able today to have a birthday party similar to what we’ve had in the past for the wee man – but he seemed to have had a great day regardless. Building “marble runs,” learning about balancing scales, and then David providing the entertainment with his brand new “puppet theatre,” David was indeed the “life of his own party.”
  I am so lucky.
  And of course this is to take nothing away from his older brothers – with whom I regret I did not have the same opportunities at “spending time with” when they were younger. But indeed, to say that I’m thankful and proud of the way those three older brothers have shared their own joy at having a wee wain for a brother – I’m very proud of them. All of them. And David was lucky himself to be able to share part of his 5th birthday anniversary with one of those brothers, Colin.
  David finished up his day sitting beside on my bench in front of my fly tying desk, and “stole” all the flies I had tied up for some fishing tomorrow. He figured he didn’t have any quite like that in his own tackle box – so he should have some. But that’s ok. After he went to bed, Colin and I tied up a bunch more and hopefully we’ll catch some trout with at least one of the patterns tomorrow.
  And sadly, Colin’s trip has to be cut short – one of the “extended family emergencies” was news that his grandfather has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. So we’ve been in a bit of a “holding pattern” as far as plans are concerned. I’m quite saddened by the news myself as even though there were issues back in the day, the maternal grandfather of my three sons and I have always remained friends and in times of some “need,” I always knew that no matter what, Brian McCleery would do what he could. There have been times when he has gone out of his way to assist me in visiting with his daughter’s and my sons. So this news has been a bit of a damper in some ways for me personally at this time.
  And for those that it might mean something: My thoughts go out to the McCleery family at this time and it is my sincere hope that this gets fixed and we all can enjoy more years with Brian in the future. I know it is a very tough time and regardless of anything else, or any other personal issues folks have chosen to have, I love Brian and have appreciated knowing him for as long as I can remember. I truly and sincerely hope Brian will be around for many more years to come.
  But not to try to dampen the sentiments of the original idea of this post: Happy birthday to the best David in the whole wide world!! You are an incredibly special “wee man” and I love you more than I have words to communicate the ideas of it. “All the way to Pluto and back and forth and even further” as we say to each other 🙂