The Icing on the Cake

Drum roll please...

It's obviously anticlimactic for you to be reading this.  This is a fact you have known all your life.  No new information here for you, but for your mom and I, we now know that from this day forth, though we may still call you "our child" or "our baby", as we have in the past few months, now we can also call you "our son."

           It is not flesh and blood, but heart which makes us fathers and sons. 
                 ~Friedrich von Schiller

After the cake was cut, and the blue icing revealed, our family played the Kinect XBox 360 games.  Your grandmother signed off of the computer (she joined us via webcam from Colorado Springs), your Uncle Mike signed off from his webcam at work, your grandparents and Uncle Josh and your cousins Casey and Alex went home.

We spent the night talking about names, the room we're going to make for you, and the fact that we'll need to get you circumsized, but all the while, my imagination was looking to the future - to the man that you will one day become.  But first, I have to make sure you get to be a boy, and to not rush the months and years ahead.  For, one day, I'll be sad that I did so, if I am fortunate enough to grow old.

I hope that I can be a good father to you, and that I can provide more than food and shelter.  I want to help give you all the skills that you will need for your journey ahead, even though I, myself, do not possess all of them.

I think the first skill we'll work on is the ability to use a toilet.  (Luckily, that's one that I've nearly mastered...)

I love you, my son.

That's the first time I've said that, but it won't be the last.

Your dad.

P.S.  Your mom was right!  She knew you were a boy!  (Listen to her counsel, my son.  She's got the gift.)

Blue or Pink?

Well, my child, this may be the last entry that I don't make a reference to your specific gender.  You could be "my daughter" or your could be "my son."  The plan is for all of us to find out together on Tuesday night when I return home.

I'm in Kentucky right now, visiting your Great Grandfather, Haynes Carroll Atherton.  (He goes by Carroll.)  I hope that you'll get a chance to meet him one day, as he really is a super guy.  His wife, your Great Grandmother, Alberta Mae Atherton, was also a super gal, and she passed away this week, which is why I wasn't able to be with your mom today, when your ultrasound pictures were taken.

Your mom asked the technician to check off the box of "Girl" or "Boy", and no one has opened the envelope yet.

It's an exciting time, because we know that the room we create for you will largely be determined by the box that was checked.  Your Christmas presents, the Baby Shower, and all kinds of things will be determined by which box is checked.  And we'll start imagining all sorts of things - what your interests might be, what toys you might want to play with, what movies you might like.  Of course, if our current life is any indication of our future, you'll surprise us no matter what!

Your mom has a suspicion of what color your booties will be (and she's very perceptive, so I don't doubt her) but we'll know for sure in just a few days.

I'm sad that I couldn't be there with her today, but I'm glad that your cousin Casey was there for your mom.  She's constantly been there for us when we've needed her help, and I hope it will work out so that you can grow up close to her and your cousin, Alex, Casey's older brother.

We buried my grandmother today, and I hope it is a long time before you have to experience someone that you deeply love having to leave the Earth.  But death is a part of life, and one day, your mom and I will have to leave you, too.  Which makes savoring the mysteries and moments of life, like this, all the more important.

I do not hope that you are one gender or another.  I will love you unconditionally.  I only hope that you are healthy, and that your mom and I can help you grow into a happy person who is full of life, hopes, and dreams.

Good night, kiddo.  I can't wait for Tuesday!