Miles and Griffin

I have twins.

 I also have two of everything…two bikes, two baseball gloves, two cell phones, two backpacks, two lunch boxes, the list goes on and on.

Miles and Griffin or Griffin and Miles, either one works.  They are identical twins which might lead you to believe they’re pretty much the same. You’d pretty much be wrong. They’re as different as night and day.

Or day and night.

This picture always makes me laugh

Griffin is a quieter, more solitary type, although he loves his friends’ and his brother’s company. He's also into art, kick ball and Jimmy Kimmel's Halloween videos. The ones where the parents pretend they ate all their kids' candy. He thinks they're funny.

Miles is into cartoons, math, and told me he believes UFOs are real. He's fascinated with Super Mario and ghosts.
Also with a certain girl at school but we won't go there.

They both shall we say bend the truth, but it's kid stuff like, "Did you brush your teeth?" They both will say yes, when it's really no, which leads me to saying something I never dreamed I'd say, "Let me smell your breath."

They’re both smart and sweet and I love them to pieces.

I remember when they were born.

We knew beforehand we were having twins and I have to give a

 

shout out to their mother, my wife Denise. I love her very dearly. This whole experience was her idea. We both had daughters when we got married and she said we should try, once, to have a child between the two of us. If it didn't happen, no harm no foul, we tried. So off we went to the in vitro clinic. The doctor there told us we had a 3% chance of getting pregnant. That 3% chance turned into the twins Miles and Griffin. I have sons because of her.

Back to the day they were born.

I was in the delivery room that day. Crying. The doctor was busy delivering my kids, and said, ”Baby number one" as he delivered Baby number one. Then, “Baby number two.”  They came into the world crying, mad as hornets, because they had been taken from the warmth of their mother’s womb and met the world in an air conditioned hospital.

    

As the saying goes, a day that will live in infamy.

After all the hubbub had died down and the newborns were taken care of and Denise had fallen asleep, I went downstairs to leave and to head home.

The hospital had valet parking and I had become friends with the guys who parked the cars.  I was so happy and proud that day and I told them that my wife had just given birth to twins. One guy said something I’d never heard before or since, “Well ain’t you the boss with the hot sauce.” 

 I laughed out loud.  

I’ve always said jokingly that if you feed kids they will grow. True that. It was fun watching Miles and Griffin go from infants to toddlers to kindergartners to boys. And we made some friends along the way…The Wiggles, Thomas the Train, Phineas and Ferb, and Kipper, to name a few. Good friends all.

I’ve got to tell you a few things…

Griffin’s middle name is Dane. One day I asked him did he know what his whole name was. He said sure and proceeded to say, “Griffin Dave.” “Griffin what?” “Griffin DAVE!”  This is the same guy who said Justin Bieber was Justin BEAVER.  Miles is still afraid to go upstairs or go to his room, by himself. We have a dog named Lola and he puts a trail of her treats on the floor that mysteriously lead to the place he wants to go. Pretty tricky.

Lola the Dog, Miles and Griffin

You may ask what these punkins and dealing with the aftermath of a stroke have in common.

Unlike Maya and Jenna, they don't remember me pre stroke. They were too little. Griffin and Miles would hear me reading out loud and that was normal for them.  I almost drowned the first time I was in the pool after my stroke but they were just glad I was in the water. With them. I would come to their school, their cafeteria, to eat lunch with them and everyone else seemed to know about my stroke. Miles and Griffin were just happy their dad came. 

Coming back from a stroke takes on a whole new meaning when you have little kids. I wanted to get better, to improve, for them. I wanted to show them that their father is just like the other kids fathers.That's a reason, a strong reason, to get better. 

Miles, Me and Griffin

I'm not going to lie, having a stroke takes you to a dark place.

Miles and Griffin are the sun that lights up that place.


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