Today is Christopher's Birthday.
He was born, I should say finally born, on September 29, 1977 at about 5:00 am in the morning, exactly two weeks to the day later than he was suppose to be. Chris was named after his Grandfather, Christopher Don Wintle. His Grandfather's name was Donald Franklin Bagley. Chris was a Daddy's boy from the beginning. When he was a little over a year old he began getting sick a lot. He would get tonsillitis about once a month and run very high temperatures. A few times his temp was so high that the doctor would put him into the hospital. When he was 22 months old the doctor decided that his tonsils would never get better so they took them out. I remember in the hospital right after he woke up from surgery Craig decided that he needed to go home and take care of a few things. Chris screamed so hard for his dad that I had to call him to come back. He would always call his dad "My Friend Daddy". When he was 3 we did a little play at Grandma and Grandpa Bagley's for Father's Day. Chris's part was about a daddy giraffe. He said: "Daddy Giraffe's as tall as a tree, My Friend Daddy's tall, he's twice as tall as me." I don't think I will ever forget that.
Christopher liked to dump his food on his head. Whenever we would have spaghetti or oatmeal or anything like that, I would turn around and find his bowl on top of his head and his food running down his face.
In the summer I could not get him to take a nap, but I would always find that he had laid down in the middle of the drive way and gone to sleep.
For Famous People Day in Elementary School he was Martin Luther King. We painted his face black as part of his costume for his report. A few years ago I was going through some pictures and found a little black boy and it took a while to realize that it was Chris.
When he was in 6th grade I was incharge of the birthdays at his Elementary School. The school mascot was the Crescent Cub. So once a month he would dress up in a blue cub suit and go with me and pass pencils out to the kids who had had birthday's that month.
Christopher loved sports from the very beginning. I can remember when he had a bottle he would bend over and throw it through his legs to his dad like a football. He loved to hit things…anything. Anything he could pick up and swing he would swing. One day when he was very young, I don't think he was even in kindergarten, Craig was playing baseball with him. He swung at the ball and hit it pretty hard for a little kid. Craig yelled at him to run telling him that he had hit a home run. Chris took off running and ran around the house.
He played soccer and little league base ball as soon as he was old enough to do so. Everyone was always amazed at the talent he had. He played basket ball in Jr. High and in High School he played on Jordan's Baseball team. His sports, whether it was soccer, basket ball or baseball, always caused a little conflict between he and his dad. Craig was so excited about the talent that Chris had that he could not contain himself. Chris would get so upset at him that I wondered what had happened to that feeling of friendship for his dad he had when he was young. I wondered if he would ever get along with him again. But he and Craig officiate basket ball from time to time and that I do believe has brought that friendship back to them.
The thing that I think that I love to watch in Chris most is the love he has for his family. He often calls just to tell us about some of the cute things that his children have done. It is so obvious that he loves them and is thrilled with their actions.
Chris may have given us a few worrisome times during his growing up years, but we are so proud of the man he has become. He is a great father and husband and had grown to be so spiritually strong. We love you Chris. Happy Birthday!!!