Some random thoughts

Some of you may remember that when I first noticed Amy in one of my elementary education classes, I was captivated by her looks and I knew right then and there while sitting from afar that she was “the one.” However, now that she has given birth to our lovely son, I don’t think she’s ever looked so beautiful through my eyes.

Going back to work is going to be hard for me to do. Just leaving the house for an hour to go to the gym, has me hurrying to get through my workout at a pace that I’ve never been able to keep before just so I can return home to Ryne as quickly as possible.

How did I get to be so lucky when it comes to life?

Just this month alone, I started a new job that would be considered a promotion. I, with my lovely wife, brought home a perfect son. The Iowa Hawkeyes beat the sixth (Penn State) and then the first (Michigan Wolverines) college football teams with the most wins all-time, in consecutive weeks! Furthermore, Iowa has a legitimate shot at upsetting the fifth ranked, and undefeated, Michigan State Spartans at Kinnick Stadium this weekend. It has been maybe the best month ever!

My life is really great! I often wonder why I deserve all of this.

Iowa lost last Saturday, to Wisconsin, in a game that they should have won. To make matters worse, the Chicago Bears did the same thing the following day on Sunday. Normally, these two things would have ruined my weekend and had me pouting into the middle of the new week. However, while I obviously would have preferred my teams to win, neither thing put a damper on the high that I was experiencing after bringing Ryne home.

Having a child really does put other things in your life into perspective.

I was always worried about how I would interact with Ryne once he was born as I didn’t have any real experience when it came to dealing with newborns. I thought to myself how I just couldn’t wait until he was older and we could do so many fun things together. Now that he is born and he is a newborn, I don’t ever want him to grow up! As Maurice Sendak wrote in Where the Wild Things Are, "Oh please don’t go- We’ll eat you up-we love you so!” That is how I feel about Ryne.

He is just so beautiful and precious right now. I love the fact that he depends on his mom and dad for everything. I guess he will continue to depend on us for everything for a long while, and as I reflect on my own situation it seems as though he will probably depend on us for some things for ever. I at least hope so.