BREAKING NEWS
Friday May 18, 2012
Text-messaging updates are fabulous. But I can attest, do not serve to lessen anxiety – perhaps they fuel it. So much thrill, to be knowing how things are going.
Unless they are going slowly, which they do, then not so much. Worse yet, being 200 miles away, were those long pauses between messages – long quiet, middle of the night, wondering, worrying . . . brimming with emotional energy, but no place to put it.
When both my daughters arrived, I got to hang out with their mother in the maternity ward where I knew everything that was happening, as it was happening, while 200 miles away, expectant grandparents were sound asleep (so I thought) waiting for news – a brand of anxiety I didn’t fully appreciate until last night and this morning.
My memories of Carla, from that tiny child I held that first morning flood me right now.
I knew she would do great – from time I first saw her, just before 6AM, 34 years ago. I remember, like it was all just yesterday. Like teaching her to ride her first bike, running alongside, I had trouble letting go of that seat, knowing she might crash, fall, skin her knees and cry – as any father would. But mostly she didn’t fall, didn’t bruise badly and she learned so quickly.
Independence for Carla raced ahead, as it also soon did for her sister Krista.
They grew up so fast!
Right now, it seems like just a few moments have elapsed since then . . .
Time flew, through scary events for fathers, wanting to protect their daughters from perils – crossing traffic, driving the car, fun, friends, and miscalculations of any kind, and boys, and men – all things fathers love/hate to see unfold right before their eyes. Not that mothers don’t worry too, but I can only speak about father-of-daughters-worry which is, I believe, a freak show unto itself sometimes.
Life happened. My little girl grew up, became a strong woman so quickly it is pretty blurry, and this morning my eyes are pretty wet, though my exhaustion pales compared to hers, to her husband’s and her sister sitting with her.
Little girl, long ago grown up woman, made me very proud. She selected and teamed up with a great dad-to-be, married him, made a home, made plans for this day – now has her own little girl. Just before 6AM this morning, Carla and Chad – waiting for baby got their long awaited result. Baby Isla, 7lbs, 8 oz. (pronounced EYE- LAH ) has entered our lives.
Exhaustion. for everybody but baby. She must be wondering, why everybody around her are sporting goofy grins but looking so tired.
The most complicated elements in life must, I am sure, be boiled down to these simplest of truths that bring macho in all fathers and grandfathers to our knees, birth of a child.
Mark Kolke
304,540
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: 2 C/36 F, spotty overcast, chilly bracing breeze coming over the hill, traffic light because so many folks have early-start on their weekend, Gusta unusually cooperative today, perhaps sensing my fatigue . . .
Comments Received:
Many thanks for calls and notes yesterday wishing well to our family:
How exciting- congrats Grandpa!, SM-B, ?
Congratulations. Will be thinking about Carla and that all is well, SC, Lake George, NB
Mark, Sending good thoughts and prayers for a healthy delivery to Carla and Chad and baby. Having just welcomed grandchild #3 last month, I can only say that this really is one of the best parts about getting older…. The day I held my first grandbaby, my heart swelled like the Grinch on top of Mount Crumpet. I would never have believed my capacity for love could be greater than the love I had for my child until my child had a child. Congratulations!, CC, Calgary, AB
Awesome, how exciting, one of the best days of your life I'm sure, makes you realize how much you have accomplished in your family life. I too am waiting to become a first time grandmother, my daughter is due in August, it is a boy and I am thrilled. I will be a young, hands on grammie. Wishing you the and your family the best at this wonderful time, MM, Arlington Heights, IL
Congratulations Grandpa!, AG, Playa del Carmen, Mex.
Congratulations to you for your impending arrival. Very exciting to see the next generation arrive and watch them thrive in this world as your own daughters have. I'm jealous as my own 2 have not started the process. I may have to push my yet unrealized grandchildren around on my walker!!, CG, Oakville, ON
All the best to new parents Carla and Chad, new baby arriving, and new grand-dad; focus on the new part of all that and you will be re-new-ed as well!, KK, Calgary, AB
Wonderful day for the kolke's, FO, Kula, HI
