Baby showers are a funny thing. New parents, who don't know what they are doing, build a list of things for other people to buy their kid so they don't have to including things these first time parents might never use. It is a mix of being a beggar and being a fake expert, but the end result is an outpouring of touching support that makes it so the stuff you actually got doesn't really matter.
When Lindsey was officially pregnant the gears started moving quickly to have two baby showers- one in Odessa and one near Austin. The Odessa one would be for our mom's friends and the Austin one would be for ours. When we first started talking about it them, and the birth itself, seemed so far away. Yet as we got closer and closer to the days the amount of effort that went into these showers became apparent.
On the day of the Odessa shower the ladies in our mom's lives had custom artwork, handmade cakes and cookies, and a pile of presents to go along with it. At the time Finn was still a nebulous concept for me, as the month of hell made me try and emotionally separate some and I was so busy after that I never came back around. I was too focused on getting the house setup, or getting the registry right, or making my journal entries, or just trying to say goodbye to a phase of my life I really actually enjoyed. I was still not thinking like a dad.
Seeing his name on an easel, seeing all these people put effort into his first party that he will never see, suddenly woke me up to what was about to happen. It was the moment when my brain finally said "ok NOW you can be excited." It all hit me on that day, and I have been on a high note ever since.
If the Odessa party was the wake up call, the Austin party felt like some sort of closure for my life to this point as a man who is not a father. In my in-laws house a collection of people came who have supported me, inspired me, helped me grow and helped me grow up. Among the advice about being a dad was a lot of reflection on good times past, and a celebration that we have moved into life's new phase together.
In the aftermath of both of these showers I feel so appreciative to all the support we were shown. I am actually blow away, outright blown away, that people could be so generous to our son. I knew that in so many ways these showers were basically like the closest thing to our funerals that we will see, the moment when the people in our lives showed us how much they appreciated us and therefore will appreciate and accept our son. That is a touching revelation I will never take for granted.
I still have some thank you cards to write, and some gifts to unpack and setup, but for the most part the celebration of the arrival of Finn is in the history books. Now we live the last few weeks we will live for ourselves before we welcome the man that will define the rest of Lindsey and my lives.
When Lindsey was officially pregnant the gears started moving quickly to have two baby showers- one in Odessa and one near Austin. The Odessa one would be for our mom's friends and the Austin one would be for ours. When we first started talking about it them, and the birth itself, seemed so far away. Yet as we got closer and closer to the days the amount of effort that went into these showers became apparent.
On the day of the Odessa shower the ladies in our mom's lives had custom artwork, handmade cakes and cookies, and a pile of presents to go along with it. At the time Finn was still a nebulous concept for me, as the month of hell made me try and emotionally separate some and I was so busy after that I never came back around. I was too focused on getting the house setup, or getting the registry right, or making my journal entries, or just trying to say goodbye to a phase of my life I really actually enjoyed. I was still not thinking like a dad.
Seeing his name on an easel, seeing all these people put effort into his first party that he will never see, suddenly woke me up to what was about to happen. It was the moment when my brain finally said "ok NOW you can be excited." It all hit me on that day, and I have been on a high note ever since.
If the Odessa party was the wake up call, the Austin party felt like some sort of closure for my life to this point as a man who is not a father. In my in-laws house a collection of people came who have supported me, inspired me, helped me grow and helped me grow up. Among the advice about being a dad was a lot of reflection on good times past, and a celebration that we have moved into life's new phase together.
In the aftermath of both of these showers I feel so appreciative to all the support we were shown. I am actually blow away, outright blown away, that people could be so generous to our son. I knew that in so many ways these showers were basically like the closest thing to our funerals that we will see, the moment when the people in our lives showed us how much they appreciated us and therefore will appreciate and accept our son. That is a touching revelation I will never take for granted.
I still have some thank you cards to write, and some gifts to unpack and setup, but for the most part the celebration of the arrival of Finn is in the history books. Now we live the last few weeks we will live for ourselves before we welcome the man that will define the rest of Lindsey and my lives.
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