Exactly one year ago today, just before noon, my baby girl was born and handed off to me by a doctor who wished me luck and told me she was beautiful. When fully stretched out, she didn’t even span the length of my forearm and, all in, she weighed about as much as a Pomeranian. It was a very strange feeling, holding her for the first time. If I might reference Pulp Fiction to analogize: I simultaneously felt as calm and collected as Jules in the diner scene and as nervous as Butch going to retrieve his father’s watch.
Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category
On Resolutions and Resolve
These first weeks of January always bring out the people with piqued curiosities poking and prodding their contemporaries for a list of resolutions that seem more and more mandatory with each passing year. It took me until this point in my life to really investigate the history of why we declare these resolutions (aside from the obvious and inaccurate “clean slate” excuse) and why we use the word resolution as opposed to goal.
New Business Cards
Finally got my order of new business cards in from uPrinting.com and am very pleased with the outcome. Here’s the original design for all interested parties. I’ve blurred out my direct email address and phone number to weed away any would-be pranksters.
On the Eve of Her Arrival
It seems just like any other lazy Sunday save for the scintilla of electricity in the air. The smell of atmosphere through the gray sky that always seems present before moments of great change. Without cliché, tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life and I’m in “the zone” − an almost zen-like mindset observing as fate unfolds and personal history is made. Gone are the days of chronic ataraxia slipping through my fingers without consequence.
I’m about to be a father, her name is Bella Madison Gormley (aka Bells aka Maddie).
It’s kind of strange knowing ahead of time that all of this is going to happen, and with that comes a sort of Bizzaro Bucket List (things to do before birth, I mean). I’ve known this was going to happen for months but to actually know, within the hour, when my baby is going to be born is strangely exciting. I like the structure of knowing in lieu of the chaos that ensues in the moments after a woman goes into labor. I have my things packed, Jackie has her things packed, and we’ll be showing up at our scheduled time comfortable and without incident early tomorrow morning. Clean and simple.
As for everything that comes after this week: arriving home, getting situated, and all of the late nights and extremely early mornings; I don’t have much to say that hasn’t already been said on the subject ad nauseam. I’ll gladly roll with the punches and take the good with the bad because I’ve been mentally building up to this point for months to the best of my ability. Coalesce that with the knowledge that I’m with a girl I’m in love with and depend on and I think we have ourselves a winning combination.
Quotable
From Steve Jobs, though I’d never heard this one before:
We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.
Life is brief, and then you die, you know?
And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.
Amen, brother.
