Happy Birthday

Holy Frack - I have a teenager at home!

Howdy kids. Old, frail, completely lost in the dark ages, and father of a teen... it's your 'ol pal Scrubbie here.

It's official boys & girls. The Kid - 13 today. Happy Birthday my son. When it comes to young'ens m'boy - you are the best! Your mommy and I love you tons. Happy Birthday.

So - last night - a little before midnight - we left the Wife not feelin' any pain. She was uber-tired. The kid was refusing to go slip-slidin' on out. Both the Wife and the as yet unborn Kid were both startin' to be a little distressed. And the fetus-fetchers had decided to use a Ginsu knife to snatch the kid. Oh - that's graphic. Should put a public service announcement on here.

So - the clock ticks forward and we are now Wednesday October 23, 1996. This was, in fact, "due date". The magicians with their magic ultrasound wands told us ages ago that this was going to be due date. Turns out they were right.

The clock strikes 2am and the fetus-fetchers come to get us. Scrub dons his doctorin' outfit so he can go in with the Wife while the squirt is brought out. And... once again - wont get into details... but ya know what goes on.

So - we're in there. And - yoink! There's the kid!

Somethin weird goin on though. The doc - she was lookin'.... well.... lookin strange. Her doctorin' partner and her were lookin at each other weird.

The kid - was taken over to the little "warm the fella up" table on the other side of the room. There - there was a bunch of folks givin' him the once over.

Somethin's not right.

Then, one of the nurses looked back at the Wife and me. "What's going on?" the wife and I say at the same time to each other.

Oh - here she comes. Little Scrub all swaddled up. This nurse was so very nice. Leaned down to us and showed us the kids face for the first time.

"He is beautiful!" she says... "There's just one little thing..." and she shows us his hand. "He doesnt have fingers on this side." she says. "If it's ok with you - we'd like to just check him out to make sure everything is ok." We said "sure". So - off he went back to the other side of the room with the whole team there and they gave the kid the once over.

In the meantime - the Wife is bein attended to. She isn't doin well. Again - spare ya the details.

Bout 20 mins later - nurse brings the boy back and tells us that things seem to be OK. There's a couple of things going on that put the kid into the intensive care unit - but overall - things are good.

So - there we are - by now, it's 3:30am. The Kid - all swaddled up and snoozin. The Wife - zonked and catchin some ZZZZ's. Scrub - still awake and in no way ready to sleep. So, I grabs a cuppa tea and go for a stroll.

The kid was born at a pretty major hospital here in Ontario. It's always a busy bustlin' place. But - not so much so at 3:30am. I was through the main floor of the hospital - not a soul. Out the main entrance - not a soul. Across the parking lot and over the parking garage - not a soul. And, despite the hospital being on the main drag of a major city - I stand right out there and as far as the eye could see - not a soul. It was really like some higher force pressed "pause" on life so Scrub would have a few seconds to catch his breath. I took a sip of my tea. I took a deep breath. And, I think to myself...

"I have a son. I have a family."

At this very moment - life... would never the be same.