Sharing ‘Crib Notes’ and Other Thoughts — Brian’s Blog

I did something the other day that I really never thought I would have to do again at my age. But now that it's done, I think it was something special.

Earlier this week, I put together a baby crib. No,  it wasn't for a friend or a grandchild. (I hope to have that experience someday) It was for our new baby.

Uh-huh. Our new baby. I'm staring at being 60 years old and I have a new baby.

Most of my readers and listeners know that my wife Sandy and I have adopted five children out of foster care. Our youngest is now 3-years-old and we thought we were done. All of our baby stuff was gone, given away or yard-sold.

Then we got a call from a state social worker about a 3 1/2-month-old baby boy who needed a permanent placement. Under most circumstances we would have said "no" politely. We had retired our foster license and were looking forward to just watching our kids grow.

Not this time.

This baby was different. He happens to be the full biological brother of our oldest son.

My wife and I studied it from all angles. We knew that the same conditions that put our son into foster care and eventually into our family still existed, and that they weren't good. So we called the social worker to ask if we could meet the baby. The answer was "yes." We made an appointment and traveled to where the little one would be on a certain day.

When we got there, we saw a baby boy who was a virtual clone of our 9-year-old as an infant. I think Sandy and I had pretty much decided that we were "in" on this deal, but seeing the little guy clinched it.

Hence the need for a crib.

Sandy found one for $20 on one of those Facebook buy-sell-swap pages. When she got it home, I could see that it had been well used, but with a new mattress would do just fine. We needed new bolts to put it together, but a trip to our neighborhood hardware store took care of that. Assembly went smoothly and now it's ready for baby.

As I was putting it together I couldn't help but think about a few things. Our adoption journey was supposed to stop at one, with our now 18-year-old. This little guy makes six children. Our version of family planning is a little different than most people. Also, I will be 60 in just about four weeks.

Sixty. Model and actress Lauren Hutton said a few years ago when she hit that age that "60 was the new 30." I'll go with that.

I also thought how many guys my age have had to put together a crib for their new baby?

Wow, I'm 60 and I have a new baby! Not too bad! What a stud!

#stillgotit!