Two very special boys were born on this day… One of them… or Johnny as we call him…was born 24 years ago… and the other…. Gabriel 17 years ago…

Johnny was supposed to be born around the 11th but for some reason he decided it was best to wait. His mom’s doctor didn’t agree with him so he gave him a little “push”.

He was a healthy little boy… at birth a bit bigger than his older brother, David…   and this time I was blessed with the privilege of being there… to see him draw his first breath in this world and to make his first sound…

Late nights… working… over at the “other house”… or away for studio work…   Almost every night… or in my memory…. it seems that way…  I hardly ever saw him awake except maybe when his mom took him over to check on us…

I can still picture his little face in my mind… fast asleep in his crib… when I came home.  Everybody was sound asleep…  As I laid in my bed wide wake for hours with my eyes locked at this wonderful little being… listening to the music of his breath ….and his mother’s…   those two wonderful human beings…    Sometimes an overwhelming feeling of something horrible happening to them would hit me….  all of them… or fear of losing them…

I wish I could remember more about him… Instead I have memories I want to forget… memories that are stuck inside my heard and take over when I make an attempt to remember the things I want to remember…

Johnny was almost 14 months when he was taken away from us along with his two older sisters Kim and Meg and his brother David….  almost 23 years ago…    yet… on his birthday each year we celebrate the time we had with him and got to know him…. He will stay in our hearts forever….

—

Seven years later another little baby boy was about to be born on this day…  Johnny’s little brother….  Gabriel….

It almost felt as he was waiting for the right day to be born…  His due date was set on June 17th… and his mom believed he was on his way that day…  even had his mom and dad rushing to the hospital …but he held on to his save warm place…  and probably smiled and thought  to himself… “false alarm – only kidding!”

On the night of the 19th or around 10 o’clock… another trip to the hospital…  mom having contractions on the way and at one point we thought she wouldn’t make it to the hospital… but we did… and things slowed down again…   Another false alarm?    Nope!…   It was almost midnight… and things changed fast…. and all of a sudden there was a baby…  8 lbs. and 2oz.  ….just right after midnight… 12 minutes…