A Decade And a Half Ago

There's something about the firstborn's birthday that brings the nostalgia front and center. I think it's because all vestiges of parental innocence were stripped away when Becky was born. The visions of a newborn quietly sleeping after a perfectly burped meal were replaced with projectile vomit, explosive diapers, rashes that defy human understanding, and colic in the wee small hours of the night.

The OH MY WORD, WHAT ON EARTH DO I DO WITH THIS NEWBORN stage was quickly replaced by the teenage years. We blinked. It's getting to the point that I'm afraid to close my eyes at all.

Fifteen years ago today, I was threatening the life of the poor Army intern in the maternity ward. I have often thought of that boy over the years. Did he become a eunuch? Did he go AWOL? Did he beg his recruiter to change career fields?

Fifteen years ago today the temps in Alaska registered somewhere around negative thirty. Fifteen years ago today, the Northern Lights danced; not just in the usual green, but in a rainbow of colors in celebration of the birth of our baby girl.

Fifteen years ago today our lives changed forever in ways that we never imagined. All for the better. Parenthood rocks.

Happy birthday, Becky.