Time Keeps on Ticking, Ticking Away (8-29-25)

This week’s column will take a side road, a divergent of sorts.

If you’ve read by first two columns for Gulf Coast Media, you know that the focus is me navigating Gulf Shores alone, moving here after losing my wife, Dorinda, to cancer in April.

And while Gulf Shores isn’t the focus of this trip, it’s still geared around a beach town. And my Bear. This column and next week’s will focus on my road trip to my hometown of Florence last week. So, buckle up and take a ride with me…

One reason for the trip to Florence was to visit my grandson, Rhys, for the first time since he started pre-K. That’s hard to believe that he’s old enough for that step. Where does the time go? I couldn’t help but flashback to January 2021 and his birth. And that’s the path to the beach town of St. Augustine, Florida.

The italicized text below features portions from a column I wrote in March 2021 about his birth when I was the editor of the Palatka (Florida) Daily News. When I left the newspaper later that year, co-workers gifted me a framed version of the column, which is one of my prized possessions today. Give it a read and I think you’ll enjoy it. I smile every time I read it.

But revisiting the column also brings a tear or two. With Rhys starting pre-K, how I wish his Dee Dee could have been here to walk him in on his first day. I have no doubt she was watching over him, though.

Hello, I’ve waited here for you

“I got thrown out of a hospital parking lot in St. Augustine … Nah, I’m just kidding and playing off one of comedian Ron White’s famous bits about getting thrown out of a bar in New York City.

But I did get to spend a lot of time in the parking lot of Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine in January. Security guards seemed to be watching me and wondering why I was hanging out in the parking lot for days on end. That’s understandable.

My daughter, Baylee, was expecting our first grandchild. Due to COVID-19 precautions, only one person was allowed to go in and be with her. That was my wife, Dorinda.

Dorinda stayed with her as we waited, through 26 hours of labor and the days that followed.

I was left to wait and wonder what was going on. There were a few quick trips home to check on our dogs, grab a nap, shower and change clothes. Then I was back in the parking lot awaiting a call or a text and photos of my new grandson.

That day arrived. And now, I have a new love in my life.

Our first grandchild, Rhys, was delivered at Flagler Hospital on Jan. 22. He had to stay in the hospital a few extra days because of some health concerns, but he and his mom are home now.

That means I’m getting to hold him, cradle him and spoil him. It means I’m able to offer his mother and grandmother some relief in rocking him when they need a break.

I didn’t get to see him for nearly the first week of his life. COVID-19 protocols kept me waiting the day he was born and for a few more days afterward. Waiting for updates and to carry his mother and grandmother back and forth, I’d spend my time between the hospital parking lot, our hotel room and the beach when weather permitted.

I had a couple of good days weather-wise for some time on the beach. One day, I was relaxed at last and listening to some music. Waves, a nice breeze and soaking in the sun. Then a group showed up with some bread and decided it would be a good idea to feed the birds. That ended my time kicked back in the sand that day, so I opted for a relaxing walk along the beach as someone suggested that would be a good way to ease my worries. It worked. Then I would grab a bite and return for parking lot duty.

Waiting gives you a lot of time to think. So, I got to thinking about all of the things I’d look forward to doing with Rhys.

Let’s start with baseball. If you’re a regular reader of this column, that won’t come as any surprise. Before too much longer, I’ll go buy him his first baseball glove so we can have a catch one day. I will buy a left-handed glove, just on the chance it would push him to throw left-handed. Nah. I don’t think that would work anyway. Or would it?

I will tell him that on the day he was born, one of the sport’s greatest players died. Hank Aaron, who surpassed Babe Ruth’s home run record of 715, died the morning of Jan. 22

As Rhys gets older, certainly there will be a trip or two to an Atlanta Braves game. Some time in the sun together watching spring training games in Clearwater, Dunedin or North Port. There will be an Alabama football game and I can tell him how the Tide won another national championship a few days before he was born.

We’ll go fishing. I’ll tell him about his great-grandparents he didn’t get to meet. Man, how they would love him.

I’ll introduce Rhys to some of my favorite music, which will lead me to my favorite song, “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters. The opening line goes:

‘Hello,

I’ve waited here for you

Everlong.’

And I can tell him waiting was exactly what I did anticipating his arrival those January days in a hospital parking lot, anxiously awaiting any updates. I’ll tell him how I couldn’t wait to meet him in person. To hold him.

I’ll tell him how his mother and grandmother kept me updated before and after his birth. I’ll tell him about those first pictures his grandmother texted me, just moments after he was born.

And I’ll tell him how much he is loved.

Now, about that left-handed glove …

Dorinda with Baylee, and grandson, Rhys, on Jan. 22, 2021.

With Rhys at the beach together in July.