Chapter 11 – Papa LaSalle

Our first child, Jon Christopher, was born seven years after we were married. Sonja knew that they would restrict her assignments once she became pregnant. She kept the pregnancy hidden until I pressed her as I was concerned about both her and the baby.

We made the decision to hire a fulltime housekeeper and a night nurse until she went back to work. Momma came for a month after Sonja went back to work and never left. Once entrenched in the nursery she wasn't about to leave. While she absolutely hated the snow, her love for the baby outweighed the misery of the weather.

JC was barely potty trained when I received a package at the office. I opened it up to find a tee shirt in my size. On the front was a picture of JC holding the hand of a faceless little girl. Layla was born six months later.

I absolutely loved being a father. It seemed that the children somehow grew some every day with either a new word or ability.

I marveled at how Sonja returned each time and immersed herself right back into our daily routine. Not that we had the time to create new friendships but we chose during the early years to stay at home with the children.

Our one constant that we maintained was to make sure that we went out alone the first or second night that she was back home. Since we never knew when I would be called in on a case, we made sure that we scheduled special alone time sooner than later.

There were several times that I had to make a quick trip to the airport to see her off to a new mission. Fortunately for me, Tammy had encouraged me to seek out a Navy Family and Friends Support Group. I was both surprised and thankful for the link with Navy families as their loved ones were deployed worldwide. They readily accepted me as one of their own understanding that Sonja's absence from our home mimicked theirs in frequency, duration and danger.

Time quickly passed by. Jon starting school was a traumatic day for dad. Three years later the same distress returned when I took Layla to kindergarten.

My home life revolved around homework, sporting events and music lessons. We hired an Arabic tutor to start Layla with the language even before she started school. She and her mother spoke it nearly 100 percent when Sonja was in the house. In later years JC and Sonja spent a lot of time on the gun range together solidifying their relationship.

Family vacations saw us visit nearly every site on Sonja's and my bucket lists. The kids really didn't care where we went as long as they were with mom and dad. I guess that it would be hard to single out one place but the Cumberland falls were just astonishing.

We went to Disney World for Christmas when Layla was ten. I think that Sonja had a better time than the children. We had grown up with the second set of Mouseketeers and had more exposure to the Disney characters. We had limited the children in their television watching so they were not as familiar with some of the characters but they knew many from their CD movies that we would often rent. We were fortunate to be able to finance their involvement in music lessons, dance and sports.

High School came along with the debate if one of us should retire. The bottom line was health insurance. But there was no doubt in my mind – I wanted my wife home in the United States.

Sonja made it easy by admitting that she was getting tired of missing special events. JC's graduation was just a year away. Sonja missed a key game his junior year where he was not only the high scorer in the game but drilled a last second shot to win the game and advance the team to the play offs. She also missed the awards banquet that year where he was name most improved player.

She texted me as she was watching JC on line as he played in the first round of the state basketball tourney "that's it, I'm done." No translation was needed. She pissed her boss off when she put in her federal retirement paperwork two days after her return to CONUS. What she didn't know was that I had put some feelers out that got her several responses. In the end, she accepted an 8 – 5 job with the "District" to investigate welfare fraud cases.

No one in the room could have been more proud than Sonja when JC was name MVP for team the next season. After carrying the team most of the season, JC was named to the All State tournament team.

He stunned us all by selecting to go to Iowa State University which was also a Division 1 school. He told us that he wanted to be an engineer not a professional basketball player. The university was only 30 minutes away from a major airport in Iowa so one of us was usually able to fly out for the weekend.

Percy was crossing her fingers that Layla would be admitted to Julliard. An accomplished pianist, she minored in vocal performance hoping to head off to Hollywood. Her junior year, she returned home in time to play at her former high school's winter concert. The uncle of one of the students approached us and inquired about her plans for the future. He asked her if she wanted to be a 'star' or if she wanted to be an excellent piano player. I had no idea what she would say. "The piano sir."

"Well I'll tell you what Ms. LaSalle, I will fund a visiting performance chair at the DC Public schools for five years if you will fill it." Unbeknownst to us, he had just built a performance hall at one of the high schools. After Leyla arrived, he bought a new Steinway which was kept in a climate controlled room. I about died when I found out how much it cost.

Leyla would often stop by for dinner or stay with us a weekend night excited about some well-known singer or musician that she would be accompanying or playing with in the next few days. She spent the first three summers back at school working on her Masters' Degree.