The promotion

I got my long-awaited promotion today, although it has nothing to do with work.  I became a father figure of sorts as I celebrated the birth of my godson together with his father Tigger.

I had been waiting for this day for some time now, ever since Tigger asked me to be the godfather to his son.  Among those of us close to him, there have been plenty of jokes regarding the baby's name.  But all kidding aside, I was looking forward to establishing a close bond with this child.  I never wanted to be a parent myself, so taking on the role of godfather would be as close as I'd get to the experiences of parenting.

I got to see my godson about 2 hours after he was born.  All 8.9 pounds of him.  Like many newborns, he was red and wrinkly, as if someone had been squishing his face real hard.  He had a ton of hair, and people were quick to crack jokes about the kid not taking after his balding father.  My first impressions tell me that he looks like his mother, which is not a bad thing...

The guys went off for a late dinner at Tasty Congee & Noodle (正斗粥麵) near the hospital, as we were all pretty hungry by then.  I inhaled a plate of stir-fried rice noodles with prawns and egg (滑蛋蝦仁炒河).  With my stomach full, I lit up the Romeo y Julieta Robusto Tigger passed out and smoked my first cigar in months as I wandered around my 'hood.  On this warm summer evening, as a godfather, the cigar tasted especially sweet.  The cigar itself was very well-made - I burned through about 40% before the ash finally dropped.  I was a happy man.

As Tigger said to me, I will have many adventures with my godson that I can look forward to.  And our journey together started today, even though the boy is sound asleep and doesn't know it yet...