I've always considered myself pretty cool and calm under difficult conditions. Although I'm sure this was reinforced by a long career as a police officer, even as a kid it took a lot to rattle me.
Then my daughter and son-in-law announced they were having a baby.
I don't get it. While Donnelle was pregnant I took everything in stride, and while I had the normal worries any expectant father might have, I'd like to think I was rock solid for the birth of both kids.
I think it might be the distance involved. Danny and Rachel are living in Spokane, so it takes at least a three-hour plane ride to reach them.
This struck home the other day when my cell phone rang while I was at work. I was in my editor's office, when I heard the faint tones of my cell phone. Shoot! I had left it on my desk.
With Rachel's due date imminent, I broke off our conversation in mid-sentence and scrambled to my desk. Picking up my cell phone, I checked the caller ID.
Yep, it was my daughter.
Feeling my heartbeat starting to increase (where is this coming from, I thought to myself), I answered, and heard my daughter's voice.
"Dad, we..."
Reception was terrible, but it sounded like she was in a parking lot.
Then my daughter and son-in-law announced they were having a baby.
I don't get it. While Donnelle was pregnant I took everything in stride, and while I had the normal worries any expectant father might have, I'd like to think I was rock solid for the birth of both kids.
I think it might be the distance involved. Danny and Rachel are living in Spokane, so it takes at least a three-hour plane ride to reach them.
This struck home the other day when my cell phone rang while I was at work. I was in my editor's office, when I heard the faint tones of my cell phone. Shoot! I had left it on my desk.
With Rachel's due date imminent, I broke off our conversation in mid-sentence and scrambled to my desk. Picking up my cell phone, I checked the caller ID.
Yep, it was my daughter.
Feeling my heartbeat starting to increase (where is this coming from, I thought to myself), I answered, and heard my daughter's voice.
"Dad, we..."
Reception was terrible, but it sounded like she was in a parking lot.