A Tribute to my son: Oliver Robert Gamradt

I had always wondered what it would be like when my first child arrived. I had images of me playing catch with him or her, images of wrestling on the ground in the front yard, making him or her laugh until they thought it was time to stop, images of their first words. There are many images that made up my fantasy of my first child. As a fulfillment of part of that fantasy, Oliver Robert Gamradt was delivered, more like taken out, into this world on November 24th, 2008.

Oliver Robert Gamradt, a sight to behold. With the constant hurried walking and talking of our Nurses and Doctors, the hustle and bustle of an emergency C-Section, Laura and I never got the chance to make a proper introduction and hello to our newly ‘born’ child. Needing help to pass all the tests every new human being is asked to pass, breathing as an example, Oliver spent the night receiving the care that he needed. After a long and arduous journey and we hadn’t left the hospital yet, Laura and I started off our new life as parents with a bang.

All my images of playing catch, wrestling on the ground in the front yard, of laughing until it was time to stop, and of first words, seemed now to be a distant chapter of a book of 20,000 pages. When finally home, I stopped and thought about that fantasy of mine, and how eagerness was built into my perceptions of what having a child really means.

My fantasy had become the here and now. Oliver, the present living child of ours, is a reminder that their future is but a fragment of what being his parent really means. The future is the smallest sliver upon a story that will take years to be told. Oliver is a lifeline that is different. A lifeline that is less selfish in nature. A lifeline that must be nourished until it is time for him to leave the nest, which I’m sure in spirit he never will. Oliver is a lifeline that was added to our marriage that acts as thicker glue that binds our story together. No fantasy of mine was ever a reality, only a dream of something I expected for my child. I will always have hopes and dreams for Oliver, but even now realize that Oliver will fulfill his own fantasies, and I have only a chance to influence what those fantasies become. Oliver has now spent one year honing me into a newly developed individual with experience and knowledge that could never be foretold.

Oliver Robert Gamradt, the newly formed human being that needed help passing all of the life tests, is now one year old. Through one year, Oliver has changed the very foundation of what an inexperienced father to be perceptions are of having a child. Oliver is now a wonderful boy, a boy with the piercing blue eyes, the beautiful smile, and the dazzling spectacle of being resilient, like his mother. Oliver is now a beautifully natured boy, a boy with a personality, features, and stubbornness like his dad. Oliver is now the added joy that brought our joy-o-meter from Joy-FULL to Joy-Fullest. Oliver has molded his beautiful existence into something that we thought was beautiful already. He has molded himself as a part of our family.

Oliver, you are our son. You are our friend. You are our lifeline. You are the exceeded expectations of the unexpected. You are the exceeded expectations of the expected. A ‘thank you’ to God is not enough to capture the thankfulness that we have for you being our child. (Thank you God) Here is to you my son. Here is to a life filled with Christ. Here is to life filled with Joy-Fullness-est. Here is to our future and to living in the present. Here is to your dreams and fantasies. Here is to your beautiful piercing blue eyes, your beautiful smile, and your dazzling spectacle of resiliency, your personality, features, and stubbornness.

Happy Birthday Son!

God’s Peace and Love, and yours sincerely, Dad