WRAL's Bill Leslie welcomes second granddaughter

It's hard to complete your drive-through order when the text on your phone reads, "Ava Marie has been born!"

My first thought was "Ave Maria," the famous prayer I sang at my goddaughter's wedding a few years ago. Then I realized the name in this text was different: "Ava" like Ava Gardner and "Marie" like my daughter's middle name. Yes, I was officially a grandfather again!

By the time I reached the window on Friday at Chick-fil-A, tears of joy were streaming down my face. "Don't worry about me," I said. "I am the happiest customer you will see all day!"

At that moment I started comparing the way I felt to Sept. 1, 1984, and Dec. 30, 1988. Those are the birth dates of my daughter and son. The feeling was exactly the same. Absolute, total joy!

Admittedly, I get a little giddy when the Tar Heels win a national championship in basketball. However, a new baby sends me up to a much higher cloud of euphoria. This feeling was right up there with Aug. 2, 2015, when my first grandchild, Elizabeth, was born at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville.

My wife Cindy and I hustled on down to Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte to sneak a peek of the healthy 7-pound 9-ounce sweetie pie stretching 20.5 inches across her mother's arms. A few minutes later we would both have the chance to hold Ava Marie. It felt so good to be a grandparent again.

I gently rocked Ava and started singing her name. She briefly opened her eyes and seemed to smile. I could feel the birth of a new song. I have a new compilation of story songs coming out in the fall, and Ava will be a part of that album. So will a song I've already written for Elizabeth.

Ava Marie Leslie seems to be another sign that this is the right year to retire from broadcasting. Between Elizabeth in Cary and Ava in the Charlotte area I will have a lot of grandfatherly duties to handle.

I love reading children's books and singing lullabies. I still remember how to change diapers. I'm still young enough to get down on the floor and play like a kid. I love games of imagination, like studying clouds and finding animals floating across the sky and looking up at the heavens at night and finding Mars where all the chocolate bars come from!