The Packers played dreadfully in their biggest game of the year and were knocked out of the playoffs by the Giants tonight. A 15-1 team had never lost its first playoff game before. It was a terrible ending to an amazing season. Had this same game taken place last year I would have been unreasonably upset for multiple days and sulked out of spite for quite a while. I would have been generally difficult to be around and very easy to annoy. For my wife and co-workers, it would not have been a fun stretch.
While I certainly still care... and was definitely hurting after the loss... times have changed. The shifting of priorities has begun. Having fatherhood on the horizon is the ultimate trump card. Sports losses don't sting quite as much when the thought of holding your baby in your arms is swirling through your mind every day. I don't see how it can. The older I get, the easier it is to seperate a game from life. Granted it takes a little longer after particularly big games like tonight. But the awareness happens a little more each year. Fatherhood is about to throw its elbow into that even more.
Not that I'm going to be some schmuck who loses all his passions and interests once I become a father. It's just that there was a time when these games, my teams, were a big chunk of what I had to live for. Following them took up a good percentage of my time, thinking about games took up a good percentage of my thoughts. That's the main difference. There's less space for it now. I still bled after the game tonight. I just didn't need a band-aid for very long.
The one exception to all of this is of course the Cubs. If they, when they, as soon as they finally find a way to win the World Series, it will be like I'm 8, 12, 18 and 25 again all at once. I'll weep like a baby and yell like a teenager. And my child(ren) will wonder when exactly it was that their dad went off the deep end...
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Heartbeat
As far as moments in life that take your breath away in a manner that nothing else really exists and there's no way anything this cool or amazing is even feasible or possible and somehow you had a hand in it happening and knowing that this feeling is only going to grow deeper and stronger as the days go on but seriously is this real yes we are live and this is really happening and holy crap there is a living breathing little person in there....
Yeah I'd say that sums up hearing the heartbeat of your unborn child for the first time
Yeah I'd say that sums up hearing the heartbeat of your unborn child for the first time
Monday, January 9, 2012
Ultra-incredible
You know it's real because all the symptoms are there. All the pregnancy tests came back positive. There's been some icky and ucky feelings in the morning, along with an extremely heightened sense of hunger and sleepiness. There was tenderness in some areas. But until you actual see it on the screen, it all might be, could be, one sick, elaborate prank.
Not anymore. We have pictures now. We saw it with our own eyes on that screen. There's a baby in there.
I didn't even realize we were going live until the images just appeared on the ultrasound screen. I almost did "Ohhhh" when I realized it was happening here and now. You get in that room and they get right down to it. When most of the females you see have bladders at maximum capacity, that probably forces your hand some regarding moving things along.
I saw shapes. Shapes I didn't understand. But then I saw the opening. And the little present tucked inside. The head won't be that big when they're born, she said. Yeah right, we knew. It even moved a little bit. THERE IS A LIVING, GROWING HUMAN BEING IN MY WIFE'S BELLY!! I MEAN, SERIOUSLY!! I think my mouth was hanging open the entire time. It's still so unbelievable, so incredible, so larger than anything I've known before.
And we've only just begun
Not anymore. We have pictures now. We saw it with our own eyes on that screen. There's a baby in there.
I didn't even realize we were going live until the images just appeared on the ultrasound screen. I almost did "Ohhhh" when I realized it was happening here and now. You get in that room and they get right down to it. When most of the females you see have bladders at maximum capacity, that probably forces your hand some regarding moving things along.
I saw shapes. Shapes I didn't understand. But then I saw the opening. And the little present tucked inside. The head won't be that big when they're born, she said. Yeah right, we knew. It even moved a little bit. THERE IS A LIVING, GROWING HUMAN BEING IN MY WIFE'S BELLY!! I MEAN, SERIOUSLY!! I think my mouth was hanging open the entire time. It's still so unbelievable, so incredible, so larger than anything I've known before.
And we've only just begun
Monday, January 2, 2012
Dropping the bomb
It's a fun little deal holding the knowledge that you are in possession of news that will make people jump for joy and change their lives. I had Christmas Day front and center on my radar ever since we found out the news over a month ago. And while each day by the tree in Wausau is magical, this one would be even more so. The last present was a heavy favorite to be the best. It was a frame for my parents, ushering in their new role as grandparents, "on or around July 28th."
My parents, as has always been their nature, have never placed an ounce of pressure on me to produce them a grandchild. It's just one of their countless great qualities, they have never been the meddling type but have still always been there for us when the time has been right. There may be no greater skill as a parent.
That doesn't mean the questions weren't coming full throttle from their friends. They responded with typical grace and congeniality, merely sharing that if and when it happens, that would be the right time. Just another great example of their genius.
As has become the norm during these Christmas festivities, morning turns into afternoon and stretches toward evening before we know it. We've always treated it like a marathon as opposed to a sprint, choosing for a leisurely lope over the yesteryear of the mad dash. The decision to recycle and reuse every bit of wrapping paper we could certainly contributes to the length. There were separate bags this year. It felt oddly normal...
At long last there was but a present remaining. It was after 5:00 and the anticipation of the day had steadily swirled toward this peak. My mom got the present opened and turned it over. There were but a few seconds of unrecognized silence before the realization set in. Eyes widened. Mouth opened.
"You're having a baby!!!"
Exultations. Hugs. Tears. The unbridled acceptance of a new reality.
Christmas. There's nothing like it... especially the one back in 2011.
My parents, as has always been their nature, have never placed an ounce of pressure on me to produce them a grandchild. It's just one of their countless great qualities, they have never been the meddling type but have still always been there for us when the time has been right. There may be no greater skill as a parent.
That doesn't mean the questions weren't coming full throttle from their friends. They responded with typical grace and congeniality, merely sharing that if and when it happens, that would be the right time. Just another great example of their genius.
As has become the norm during these Christmas festivities, morning turns into afternoon and stretches toward evening before we know it. We've always treated it like a marathon as opposed to a sprint, choosing for a leisurely lope over the yesteryear of the mad dash. The decision to recycle and reuse every bit of wrapping paper we could certainly contributes to the length. There were separate bags this year. It felt oddly normal...
At long last there was but a present remaining. It was after 5:00 and the anticipation of the day had steadily swirled toward this peak. My mom got the present opened and turned it over. There were but a few seconds of unrecognized silence before the realization set in. Eyes widened. Mouth opened.
"You're having a baby!!!"
Exultations. Hugs. Tears. The unbridled acceptance of a new reality.
Christmas. There's nothing like it... especially the one back in 2011.
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