There are certain moments in life when emotion floods over and a kind of numb feeling takes over your body. Hearing my son is going to be a dad was one of those moments.
"Ashley is pregnant" Josh said with a big smile.
It came out of the blue, totally unexpected. Surprise! My boy...a father?
A baby, we are going to have a new baby, our first grandchild!
When Ashley pulled out the pregnancy test, I think I went into a type of shock...I don't know why, but for some reason my top priority at the time was "don't cry" and not being emotional was the main thing on my mind. I am sure I didn't have the reaction they were expecting.
I hugged them both and I let them know how happy I was, but there was this surreal feeling to the whole thing...joy and fear all mixed together.
Please don't misunderstand, I couldn't be happier! It is just that I have this history of anxiety...I tend to worry about most everything and sometimes my fears get the better of me. If this isn't breeding ground for worry, I don't know what is...a whole eight months until we count the toes and fingers!
In just a few moments my mind rode the emotion roller coaster from "shocked" up the hill to "anxious" and then back down again to "sentimental". This is my boy we are talking about here...he may be all grown up but when I look at him I still see:
Memories of other times in his life when Josh has given my nervous system a run for it's money came to mind:
The phone call I got from the elementary school that he had been injured on the playground. . . I was assured he was ok, but until I got to that school, I couldn't breath.
When I got to the school he informed me that a "fat kid' had fallen off the jungle gym and landed on him. No sports injury here, folks, just a kid minding his own business and out of the sky comes another kid...
It sounded funny when he said it,
but the broken leg was serious.
I stayed up all night with him playing video games to keep his mind off the pain.
The hockey game, the only one his Dad ever missed, when he broke his collar bone and he was sitting on the bench with the coach's tie wrapped around him as a sling...up in the stands alone, I felt miles away.
When we got him to the hospital he sat bravely as the doctor and nurses attended to me...
evidently I had turned rather pale and there was some concern I may pass out.
Years later, a similar reaction in the recovery room after his wisdom teeth were removed. A nurse tried to explain to me that I would have to change the bloody gauze and she almost lost me.
He broke his collar bone two more times during his brief hockey career, and the pain for a parent at moments like these is something you never forget.
He is going to be a daddy...
I really shouldn't be that surprised. After all this is the same guy that called me one night last July to tell me he was getting married in September. I told him we should just put "no she's not" on the invitations because it would be assumed they were expecting. Why the rush?
They just wanted to get married and didn't see any reason in making a big production out of it.
They love the Red Sox,
They love their beer,
They love each other!
They will make great parents...they have a lot of love to share.
I look at pictures and it seems like yesterday, but at the same time it feels like a hundred years ago.
I miss that little guy...
but not that hair, what was I thinking?
Going blonde was certainly the right
way to go!
Anyways, I can't wait for my grandbaby to get here. In a way it will be like getting a chance to go back in time to my babies and play with them all over again.
Best of all is knowing that Josh and Ashley are going to get to experience the love that only a parent can feel.
Congratulations to my boy and his
beautiful wife ...
If the baby is a girl, lets hope she
looks just like Ashley....
If it is a boy, I hope he looks like
his dad, the cutest little guy ever!
You might not believe it, BUT, the National Association of Realtors stated recently that sales of existing homes rose to a 5.03 million annual rate in February which is an unexpected 2.9% increase. Why? The answer is that sales are being spurred by lower prices. Falling prices improve affordability and encourage people to make purchases. 
