Look at that fine boy — wide-eyed and hungry. Tate William Robertson, born March 13 at Presbyterian Hospital in Matthews to Lori and Kevin Robertson of Waxhaw, the fifth in our expanding brood of grandchildren.
Grandmother Elizabeth sped southward last week when labor was imminent. She kept brothers Whit, 4, and Sam, 1, while mom and dad tended to more delicate matters. Grandmother and Sam are now sharing an uncomfortable spring cold. Otherwise, all is well.
Baby Tate has a healthy wail and fine appetite. Mom and Dad are sleep deprived, as expected. They’re young. Grandparents Carter and Brenda Robertson, Ed and Debbie Vogler,  Elizabeth and I and assorted aunts, uncles and cousins have trekked to Waxhaw to ooh and aah. He weighed a stout 9 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 20.5 inches. A lot of baby.
This is Baby Tate’s birth announcement with the use of old fashioned wood pulp. The news was first spread within minutes of birth via Facebook. Oh, the wonders of modern technology and proud grandmothers.
Lori has a thousand or so Facebook friends, and I was tagged in the first posting of the baby’s picture. All the way home my phone pinged incessantly with the sounds of people “liking” Tate.
He is liked a lot.
A few years ago we dreamed aloud of down-sizing when Michael leaves for college in five years. That doesn’t seem likely now. Instead, we may have to expand the living room to house all the grandchildren at Christmas. With three unmarried children, we could still add … six, seven, eight more.

Virginia Foxx At Hardee’s

Lady Gaga wouldn’t have gotten as much attention. Senior women put down their sandwiches, got up and — perhaps for the first time in their lives — went to speak to a politician.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx walked in Hardee’s of Mocksville last week with chief administrative aide Todd Poole of Smith Grove.
The recognition and reactions were immediate for the women. Foxx is their girl, one of them. They identify with her, like her, support her … silently. While men remained with their hamburgers, a few women whispered something to Foxx. These were not contributors or back-slappers. Just women who like this 5-foot-4 …