As I get older I appreciate even more the day each of my three beautiful children of God were born. Each birth has its own unique backstory with Katie’s birth a long time in the making. Today, November 4th is my daughter Katie’s birthday and I was thinking about where it all began. Jean was able to join me for an extended weekend trip to London in February 1987. I remember taking this this great photo of her taking a cab back to HeathRow with her beautiful smile having this feeling that we had conceived our second child.
I stayed behind for what became my first of many transcontinental trips during my career as a globe trotting automotive analyst. That year was especially busy as my brother Matt had asked me to be his Best Man for his wedding later that year on October 31st and Dr. Hofman had given us a due date of October 19th. That due date came and went and instead of Katie being born on that day we experienced the first big stock market crash since 1929. The world seemed frozen by this event for several weeks trying to discern how this major event would impact the global economy.
Meanwhile, with each passing day past Katie’s due date, I got more and more anxious as Matt’s wedding day approached so I decided to get a beeper and wear it around my waist just in case I would need to leave in a hurry and get down to Princeton Medical Center where Katie would be born. Well, the good news was that the beeper didn’t go off on Matt’s wedding day. When I went back to work the following Monday, November 2nd I had to be on our firm’s morning call at Kidder Peabody to help our team understand how this market crash would impact the automobile companies. The question that came up on that morning call for each of the next three days was “Hey Jack, did Jean have the baby yet?”
Well, finally God blessed us that beautiful morning of November 4, 1987 and I hope my precious daughter knows how much her Dad loves her and admires her for the person she is to all of us and especially to Brian her husband and her two beautiful children Irene and Pete.
Have a great birthday Katie and I hope you can share this video I did 11 years ago with Irene and Pete. Love always, Dad
