I would like to start out tonight’s Thursday Rundown by wishing my sister a happy birthday. Miranda turns (gasp) 35 today – a milestone year in my eyes because as a nut of the United States Presidents, it means she is now eligible to run for the highest office in our land. Let’s get started with the rundown…

Healthy at 2 – Today, Sloan had her 2-year checkup. Although I couldn’t be there, Sid filled me in on the details. She tipped the scale at 24 pounds and measured 33 inches. Most importantly, she is a healthy little girl, something we don’t dare take for granted. Sloan’s pediatrician is Dr. Alfonso Sangtian of Coastal Pediatrics. He was the doctor on call in the hospital baby nursery when Sloan was born. I am glad we went with our gut and made him Sloan’s doctor because he has helped her (and us) tremendously. Best of all, he is a doctor with values, ones we happen to share. If you are looking for a pediatrician, I recommend Dr. Sangtian.

Sloan at the doctor’s office this afternoon. She sees Dr. Alfonso Sangtian of Coastal Pediatrics.

Powerful Sentiment – Father David Nerbun, our chaplain at CCU and priest-in-residence at St. James in Conway, will occasionally quote Osacar Wilde in his homilies. The playwright once said Every saint has a past, and ever sinner has a future. Many saints, just like us, have done things in the past that they weren’t proud of. However, they were able to turn their lives around and become holy people. Wilde’s words apply to us in the grand scheme of life, but they also apply to shorter segments of time as well. We are now at the halfway point of Lent. Have you not lived up to what you intended to do during these initial few weeks of Easter preparation? Have you neglected to do anything at all? Don’t sulk. Instead, start preparing for the Feast of the Resurrection today.

Oh TWOodles Birthday Party – A couple nights ago, I wrote about Sloan’s birthday party. I considered the event a success because Sloan had fun and it seemed as if our guests enjoyed themselves. Well, we recently went to another birthday party that was also successful. Last Saturday, we attended the birthday celebration of Sloan’s best friend, Jacqueline. Her mom, Susannah, organized a Mickey Mouse-themed party that pulled out all the stops, including Mickey and Minnie ears for all of Jacqueline’s friends. She followed the theme to a T and put forth so much effort to make it a memorable experience. Sloan enjoyed playing on the jump house, digging in the sand box, and riding down a track made for toddlers.

Jacqueline and her mama hosted an awesome party!

Mueller Report – I think there were a lot of disappointed people with last weekend’s main conclusions from the Mueller Report. Those who despise President Trump and guaranteed that the report would contain bombshells were obviously deflated and embarrassed. Even those not hostile toward President Trump were a little let down by the findings, believing that all the time and money wasted on the report should have resulted in at least some credibility to the collusion allegations. In the end, it is another big win for President Trump. As we are forced to watch him take his victory lap and smear the findings (or lack thereof) in the faces of his detractors, I think I must go back to what I wrote about over two years ago. We must do better. There has to be greater accountability by the national media to get things right and to be fair. We also can’t let hatred for a man get the best of us.

Once again, President Trump got the last laugh.

Archives – I have a couple memorable blog posts that I wrote on March 28 in prior years that I feel are worth mentioning. Two years ago, I wrote about my paternity leave. It was a beautiful time as I got to bond with Sloan and support Sid. It sure was hard to return to work. Three years ago, I wrote about the three main reasons why I enjoy YouTube. Since then, those reasons have changed a bit, but it is still worth a read.

My paternity leave was spent bonding with my daughter and wife.

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Thank you for coming along for the ride! As March comes to an end, I want to wish a general “happy birthday” to all the great people we celebrated over the past four weeks. I don’t know what it is about March, but it seems like some of the best people were born during this month. Don’t Blink.