Last night was the ten year anniversary of the best night of sleep of my life. I still vividly remember laying down after watching the end of Tango and Cash. Yes, I remember watching the last hour of Tango and Cash. My head hit the pillow and I was asleep almost instantly. Nothing happened until I was awakened about nine hours later by the recycling collection truck outside my house. One full night of sleep.
I remember this night because ten years and one day ago, Eldest was born. The best night of sleep in my life was the night after Eldest was born. This is mainly because I was exhausted, having been awake for about 18 hours and was coming down from a fairly intense adrenaline high. It is also possible I remember this night as the best night of sleep, because I now have three children, and for the last decade I have been consistently awakened by babies needing feeding, sick children, someone needing to be "tucked in" again, a cat randomly yowling, or any of numerous other nighttime events occuring in suburban households across America. Ten years ago last night was the second to last night I had by myself, in my house. For some reason, maybe because it was my birthday, I didn't sleep as well the next night.
Eldest was kind enough (as were both of his brothers) to be born in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, Eldest let his mother know he was going to be born at about 2 am, a mere 3 or so hours after Emeka Okafor led UConn over Georgia Tech for UConn's second Men's National Basketball Championship. That is one of many details I vividly remember from the 18 hour period before Eldest was born.
The Wife and I arrived at the hospital, through the Emergency Room door due to the time, at 5:30 am. We then spent the whole day in the room, waiting for something to happen. As soon as I turned on the Baltimore Orioles' 3 pm home game, the Wife told me to turn off the TV, because things were heating up. I was offered a ticket to that game, which I turned down on the off chance that the Wife would go into labor while I was at Camden Yards. That is another random detail I remember with great specificity.
After Eldest was born, and checked out, and toasted to an acceptable temperature, and we had a few visitors, the Wife decided to try nursing him for the first time. The two of them struggled with it for a few minutes, and I started giving advice, telling her what to do, and was about to attempt to physically assist in the process. Luckily, something in the back of my head screamed "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!!" At that point, I recognized my frustration, my complete lack of helpfulness and the time. I said good night to wife and child and went home for that glorious night of sleep.
The next morning, I returned to the hospital, refreshed and excited. I was a father for the first time. I walked into the Wife's room and was met with, "YOUR SON CERTAINLY KNOWS HOW TO EAT!" Apparently, while I was watching Tango and Cash, having the best night of sleep of my life, and enjoying a relaxing breakfast, the Wife and Eldest figured out the nursing problems and he let her know that he loves to eat, for very long periods of time and quite frequently.
About nine and a half years later, we started joking with ourselves about having a "double digit" child. What does it say about us that our oldest child is now 10 years old? The Wife was a little concerned about her "baby" turning ten. I have a few friends with older children, and my nephew is going to be...REALLY? 13?...ummm, 13, in a couple of months, but I have never talked to anyone else about how it felt to have a child hit double digits. Yesterday it came and went, without incident. Even the Wife felt like it was pretty much a non-event. I guess I never talked to anyone about it, because it really isn't a big deal.
Today, I turn 42. Yes, my birthday is the day after Eldest's. The one moment that made the Wife really think yesterday was when she was reminded, by Middle, that I was 31 when Eldest was born. 42 seems a lot older than 31. It has been a decade. I didn't even put that together until Eldest pointed out that he was a decade old. I am a little over 4 decades. I don't know what I think about that. I think the last ten years have flown by, even faster than previous years. Fast enough that I don't have much time to think about it.
Ferris Bueller said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Pretty astute for a high school senior. He didn't even have kids. He did, however have a writer.
Happy Birthday Eldest. I look forward to the next ten years, and the next, and the next...
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