Spring

New baby (LINK), new job (LINK), new house (LINK) and a wedding (LINK) less than two months away. Many a finger in many a pie. Hey, it beats sitting around picking me hole.

“Everyone loves a baby,” as the saying goes. Never thought I’d fall into that category. In fact, I avoided contact with babies all my life. It just didn’t seem right, to be mauling someone else’s chisler, be it sibling, newborn cousin or offspring of life long friend. They appear so delicate that the slightest flick of the wrist or sneaky gust of wind could render the poor child an invalid. Wouldn’t that be embarrassing? But my outlook changed as I got to hold Elise in the minutes after her birth. She seemed ergonomically designed to fit the placement of my arms and the curve of my palms. Supporting her load was near effortless. Our centers of gravity were somehow allied.

And here's how it really went down at the hospital... The birth process was probably the most frightening event I’ve ever witnessed. I tried to play the role of the modern partner, I really did. You know, being there for the big moment, coaching with the breathing and pushing. I was putting in a stellar performance. Man of the match stuff. Then the little head appeared. I was still there, flying the flag, knocking them out of the ballpark and other such sporting metaphors. Suddenly darkness began to wash over me. All the blood from my neck up drained south, rapidly. I felt a dramatic temperature drop in my face. My eyes became heavy as bags of coal. My once confident, possibly cocky words of encouragement turned to gibberish as my brain, having lost all its oxygen rich fuel, gave up the ability to form coherent speech. I managed to blurt something along the lines of “think I pass out now...” at which point a nurse chucked me out the door and gave me a glass of water. The miracle of birth continued without my presence. It waits for no man. But, like a boxer coming out of a daze as the bell summons him out of his corner for another round, I got it together and went back into the room. I’d missed the moment where the baby actually came all the way out and I’d also missed the cutting of the umbilical cord. How long was I out there? Thoughts of letting the team down were pointless and maybe even selfish. The team did just fine without me, maybe my removal was a key move. It wasn’t about me anyway. It was all about Martha and the baby, who was placed in my arms as I stumbled back into the room. End of story.

As a young pup I learned at school that spring is a time for new life. Lambs frolicking in green fields and daffodils in every garden were just a few of the ways in which God blessed us. Personally, I think science makes the grass grow and day turn into night, but if you want a public school education in Ireland you’re obliged to take a heavy dose of Catholicism if you want to get the book learnin’. The last of the snow melted about three weeks ago, heralding the arrival of spring. No sign of any lambs in Minneapolis but in the spirit of rebirth and transformation and in order to move along I felt that trip down memory lane was a necessary bridge in the narrative. I got me a new job is the essence of what I am saying. I threw off the dust of my previous employer. The work visa situation held me captive there for too long. That’s all fixed now and I’m a free agent. I found everything I was searching for and hope to really build something with this (LINK) company.

Spring is great.