Against All Odds

One night, when the girls and my work load gave us some peace and quiet, Val just stared at me after a fantastic night of lovemaking, and asked if we wanted a third child.

"Its your last chance to get a son," she cooed.

"I hope you know, I'm more than satisfied with our daughters," I replied.

While I waited for her reply, I found she was too busy with my growing manhood in her mouth for me to hear her answer.

In another three months, daughter number three was on the way. Wow, I was batting a thousand.

At Val's sixth or seventh month, she and our kids came to pick me up from the hospital, as I had been in surgery for nearly seven hours, working on one patient. A victim of a mugging, who needed several broken bones fixed, with internal injuries, as well.

The patient? None other than John Garrison, the bigot who wouldn't allow me to tutor his daughter!

As I finished, and talked with his wife, telling her, John would require more than a bit of rehab, I stood at the door noticing my family sitting near Francine, waiting to hear how daddy dearest had come through his ordeal.

I watched to see how these two former best friends would interact. My wife was busy tending to our girls when Francine walked in, but still greeted her, warmly. They did talk, briefly, with Frannie also talking with our girls.

When I came out, nearly being tackled by my little ones, I waited for Mrs. Harrison to talk with her daughter, before asking them both if they had any more questions.

As I was getting ready to leave with my family, I did hear them both say, "thank you, Dr. Johnson." Frannie, then walked up to me and quietly told me how grateful she was having me fix her father. I just grinned and told her, "that's why I got into medicine."

The next day, on my rounds, Mr. Garrison was still under some heavy meds, but did thank me. I just filed that away under the category of who cares.

Later, that morning, I was visited by a Seattle police detective, who was investigating this mugging. After talking with my father-in-law, he started asking about Mr. Harrison's business. When I told him I only knew he made a ton of money, doing I don't know what, I did tell him about his dislike for people of color.

It seemed like business associates sent a couple of unsavory pals to convince him of doing business a bit more fairly. I think they got their point across.

Just a few weeks later, our third daughter let us know it was her time to join the group. Little Vanessa made her entry into the world just before 6 in the morning, completing our family. There was no doubt that she was our little angel. She looked exactly like her big sisters did, when they were born.

Bringing our two bigger girls in to visit, later that afternoon, we just couldn't stop smiling. Both Sue and Reggie couldn't stop talking about their new sister.

Val and I gave each other a look, silently telling ourselves that this was it. Three was our limit. I knew all three could be doctors, or lawyers, or whatever they wanted to be.

They would grow up without anybody telling them what they couldn't be.

As we approached our tenth anniversary, we also we nearing Val's 20th high school reunion. I did have to remind myself that I was nearly three years younger than her.

Valerie's reunion came first, and we just couldn't wait. Both to show off our girls, and to make sure everyone knew how much in love, we still were.

I was just starting in one of the more prestigious sports medicine practices in the state, and Val was doing some substitute teaching.

For our tenth anniversary, my parents offered to watch our girls, while we went to Hawaii for a week. We countered, saying why don't we all go, so my folks could have a nice vacation, too.

We won out, and I'm not sure who had more fun playing in the ocean surf, my folks, or our kids. We all had the time of our lives. My folks did make sure that Val and I had enough alone time making this a truly memorable vacation.

Two of my new medical partners were team doctors for the Seattle Seahawks, and the both told me anytime I was a available, they would get me a sideline pass. Without me asking, the senior partner told me I could bring my dad, too.

I finally found time, at Valerie's insistence, to take my pop to a game. My mom told me he couldn't stop smiling all week, before the game.

All during the pre game warmups, dad just had this glow about him.

All of a sudden, we both heard, "If I didn't know better, I'd say that man there was Reggie Johnson, but Reg is way younger!"

Turning, we both saw the longtime radio voice of the Seahawks, who played for Seattle for seven seasons, and just happened to be a white guy, from Kentucky, who played at Georgia Tech.

As dad recognized this man, as an old friend, they embraced, with dad bragging about his son, the Doctor. Steve turned to me, telling me he had already heard many good things about me. Seeing them talking, a white guy from Kentucky and a black man from California it was obvious, to all, they were football players, first and foremost.

I don't think dad had this much fun playing, as he did watching his first NFL game, in person.

As our life continued on, with our daughters thriving, we both had to tell my dad that they had more than enough sports clothing. The one thing we didn't put a halt to was, once my folks retired, they were always helping the three with playing outside, in every sport imaginable.

Yes, dad even had them throwing a football around. Each one of our girls showed a great deal of interest in playing with grandpa. Even with both my parents subbing every now and then, they truly kept themselves very healthy playing with the girls. To be truthful, they were teaching them while exercising.

Another thing that was very evident, was how well coordinated all three girls were. Take my word for it, grandpa did his best to hone each skill they were learning.

Val and I just sat back watching my dad and mom enjoying their time with these three very active, very intelligent girls.

Every now and then, I would think, if Valerie Harris was really good at Math, we might have never met! Lucky for me, she had one bad class, just at the right time.

Ten plus years of marriage. Three beautiful daughters, growing up in a world where the color of their skin didn't stop them from achieving anything they set their minds to.

My in-laws realizing how much they've learned from their kids and grandkids, about tolerance, in the face of overwhelming odds. Seeing just how successful any person can be, if they just persevere. It also helped me, greatly, to have the best wife any man could wish for.