Fourth Time’s A Charm

Well, we went to the hospital for the sonogram the other day, and it’s official: My wife is pregnant with our first son! It’s a boy!  He’s all healthy, and due to hit the stage on October 13th!

Some random thoughts on this:

• Knowing that the family name will live on for another generation is actually a weirdly huge deal. 
• I get to buy toys that I would have played with when I was little, instead of feeling out of place buying dolls and princess outfits. 
• There will be someone to hide out in the basement with when all the women in the house are screaming at each other (just kidding.  sort of.). 
• Finally I can contribute a boy to marry off to one of my friends’ daughters.  Seems that the group I hang with and know has a disproportionately high number of girls compared to boys.  Kind of like my family. 

More to come, once I think about it some more…

Day Of Reckoning

OK, so not exactly reckoning.  Tomorrow my wife goes for another sonogram, and this is the one where we most likely will find out whether we’re  having a boy or another girl.  My first hope is that the child is healthy, as always.  After that, well, I would sure love to even up the sides a little bit.  I have three girls, so a boy could help balance things a little.  But another girl would be pretty cool too.  Either way, I find out for sure tomorrow, and we’ll be a step closer.

Windy

Last night all I heard was the wind whistling through the trees outside.  Oh, and the front door humming again.  I wonder if, here in WNY anyways, that’s going to be the biggest symptom of global warming climate change natural climate cylcles whaetever is going on with our weather that Al Gore is trying to fix by making movies and growing his beard occasionally.  It seems like IT IS ALWAYS WINDY.  This must be wreaking havoc with golf games, but is probably working out pretty well for the wind turbines in Lackawanna.  See, there’s an upside!

Golf

It just occurred to me that I have not gone out for a round of golf yet this year.  I’ve never gone this far into spring without playing nine holes somewhere, or at least hitting a driving range.  I still have no plans to go, though I am going to try for next week some time.  By the way if there’s anyone that would like to get out there, let me know!

It’s amazing what life can throw at you.  Ten years ago I was of the opinion that golf was an inalienable right that I would be exercising every weekend from May until October, with a special emphasis on a week in Myrtle Beach or Phoenix at some point every summer.   Fresh sweet air, a noble pursuit, freedom from the annoyances of everyday life for a little bit, a few beers, friends, what more could one ask for?  

Then I had a daughter.  I got married.  Bought a house.  Had a couple more daughters.  Now I’ve got another kid on the way.  And I haven’t touched my golf clubs in almost nine months.  Life changes in many ways, and I can’t say that the changes I’ve experienced are bad.  I wouldn’t trade my wife and kids for anything, I managed to quit smoking and drinking and lost some weight lately and none of that is bad, right?  On balance,  I have nothing to complain about.  So this is not a rant, just an observation, maybe brought on by the beautiful weather and the quizk glimpse of one of my coworkers showing of their new driver this morning.  Oh, well.

But man, I miss golf.

Off The Leash

A couple times a week, I just write whatever first comes to my mind.  Kinda taking the leash of the mind and seeing where it goes, you might say.  I’ve never actually published those posts.  Until now.  I thought it might be an interesting series, called Off The Leash.   And here’s how that goes:

I saw a picture of Patrick Swayze on the cover of some tabloid or other this weekend.  He looked thin, sick, and old.  The same day I read part of an interview with Ryan O’Neal about Farrah Fawcett where he talks about her being bedridden and having lost her hair.  Both are suffering with – and will likely die sooner than later from – cancer.  In the last year, I’ve lost friends and family to cancer.  Cancer scares the shit out of me, scares me to no end because with every passing year it just seems so inevitable that someone else I know is going to get it.  Hell, right now someone I love might have it and not even know.  Not even know.  The healthiest people in the world can get cancer, and people that practically put out a welcome sign for it are never afflicted.  Even though we know a lot of the causes and risk factors and choices that can increase the likelihood of cancer, it’s still so random.  And terrifying.

I think the reason I wanted to write this was some sort of cosmic vaccine.  It seems that the things we don’t explicitly acknowledge – whether through ignorance or conscious denial or whatever – are the things that tend to bite us in the ass.  Maybe by acknowledging cancer I can somewhat inoculate myself against it.  Dumb thought, but what the hell.  I already quit smoking, drinking, and I eat a whole lot better than I ever have.  No sense in not taking another precaution, regardless of the validity…

I Miss You, Playoffs

I just got done watching two NHL playoff games; Washington vs. Pittsburgh and then the end of Carolina vs. Boston.  Both games went into overtime, and bothe ended rather early in that overtime period.  The Caps/Pens game was the main game broadcast on Versus, which is fine with me.  That was one hell of a good game.  Tight checking, scoring, hitting, skating, excitement, and everything else you want a good game to be.  Then, at the last, the Penguins scored on a shot from the point and the place went absolutely insane. 

It was at that moment that I realized how much I miss the Sabres being in the playoffs.  For a fleeting second I thought of how nice it would be to be a true Pens fan, like a good friend of mine is. and how awesome that would have felt to witness that win.  Now, any time that I think of myself as a Pittsburgh fan is a good time to slap myself straight.  And so I did, and now I’ve got a red spot on my face.  But anyways, that fleeting second has me wondering what it is going to take for the Sabres to return to that heralded tournament, to play for the Cup.  What has to happen?  Who has to go, who has to step it up, who needs to lead these guys?  

The sooner the Sabres get back to the playoffs the sooner I can start rooting for them and not trying to talk myself into rooting for the Caps because after all their star is cooler that Pittsburgh’s star and blah blah blah….

Alice In West Seneca

This evening I went to a stage performance of “Alice In Wonderland” that a couple of my cousin’s kids were in. I didn’t quite know what to expect; my oldest daughter is still a little young to be in plays at school so I don’t really have experience at these events. 

Well, I was absolutely amazed at the ability of some of these kids to perform!  They acted well, sang well, and barely seemed nervous at all.  In fact, it some of the humor that they wrote into the production was the funniest stuff I heard all week.  In short, these kids had a ton of talent!  I shouldn’t be shocked by this, but I think I was just a little surprised maybe that it was that good. 

And then the whole family – me and my wife and three kids and my parents – went to Antoinette’s in West Seneca for ice cream.  Now that’s a good night indeed.