Chapter Thirteen - The Year Halloween Became My Favorite Holiday

“Sit down, Bother.” My sister had called from Brooklyn. She once had inadvertently (or subconsciously) left out the R when leaving me a note, and Bother stuck. It was October 31, 2005.

“I’m going to the hospital.”

Now I’m freaking out. She was pregnant. The baby was due on Thanksgiving.

“Hey!” she finally yelled at me in the middle of my rambling. “There’s nothing wrong. He’s in a funny position, and the doctor wants to deliver him by C-Section.”

In all fairness, Thanksgiving would have been a much better holiday for his birthday. You automatically get a four-day weekend. Could she hold him in?

“Hey!” Right, sorry. “Congratulations!”

She and Justin, her husband, then ran off to deliver a perfectly healthy baby boy.

I met Kai for the first time in Brooklyn at Thanksgiving. It remains the best day of my life. He was so gurglely and squishy. My sister placed him in my arms, and it was the first time I held a baby since her. I was nervous because I had dropped her on her head several times. It’s why it’s mis-shapen on the left.

But this was different. To hold this kid... my world changed.

I knew I would be leading an artistic life. Getting married and having children were never my priorities. Kai (and his brother Shea born four years later) would be the closest I would get to becoming a parent.

Kai laughed and burped and farted. He spit up and peed on me more times than I could count. And he travelled. That kid flew across the country more times in his first few years than I have in my entire lifetime. New York to LA to New York to Utah to Florida to LA to New York... all in a continuing loop.

My brother-in-law was trying to match at hospitals for his residency with New York, Eastern Uganda, Timbuktu Proper, and the Left Side of Iowa being real possibilities. Out of the blue, my sister calls me at work and says, “Guess what? We’re moving to Los Angeles!!!” Justin was going to do his first year at Harbor-UCLA (incidentally which was Rampart General for my favorite show when I was a kid, “Emergency”), and the family was moving back to California!

The next few years were amazing, as I got to be a huge part of Kai’s life, and he so enriched mine. We sang songs. He sat with me at the laptop as I wrote. We watched parts of movies he liked over and over again (driving my sister nuts). We read books. Went to the beach. Outlined each other in chalk. Lined up all the cars we bought from the movie “Cars”. Chased each other all over the house. Built forts.

He cried and pounded on the door when I had to go to the bathroom. I cried and pounded on the door when he locked himself in said bathroom.

He gave me directions when we drove places. “That way. No, I said that way!”

I would ask him what Mommy’s name was. “Midori”. Grandma’s name? “Reiko”. Daddy’s name? “Justin”. Uncle’s name? “Uncle”.

Kai would make me laugh in ways that no one else could. He needed a diaper change badly one day. I put him on the changing table and took off his smelly Pampers only to find there was nothing there. I was so convinced that I did not understand what happened to his poop. He starts cackling hysterically, smiles, and says, “I have gas.”

Living my life with Kai and Shea in it was the first time I experienced unconditional love. Best kids ever!