Can you hear me?
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Being a dad has finalized a change in me. I’ve been working on it for some time and it’s here. I no longer care about certain things. I’m not sure what those things are but I know that I don’t care anymore.
Music had gotten too serious. It had gotten to the point where I did not like it. If I played with someone it was always like “Well, I’m busy that month” or “I get eighty dollars a song”. If I played a show it was always like, who’s coming?,and who’s on the guest list?, and what’s the venue?, and is the booker gonna kill me? If I wrote a song it was always like, is it a hit? If I made a recording it was always like, where’d you place the mic? and is the guitar buzzing? and how much compression is on that? Then I got into video and now I’m a lighting guy and a director and an editor and if I can’t get a show out in a month who’s gonna know I’m here? I eventually got so overwhelmed that I'd wake up in the morning needing a nap.
Working with kids it’s the same way. Practice that piece or you fail. We turn music into work and kill kids enthusiasm.
When I shoot baskets I know there are 80,000,000 people better than me and 80,000,000 worse. I just like it. Even if I miss. Even if Cory the fifth grade teacher wins the lasagna (sometimes we wager). It isn’t serious. It’s for it.
I grew up with a color TV, a box of Ritz crackers, Nestea powdered Iced Tea mix, a PET computer with Asteroids on it, Elvis Costellos “Trust” on tape, and an ovation guitar with old strings on which I would noodle to my hearts content. I’m headed back there. On some level. With my daughter.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Hey Folks,
So here I am. Hazel is thirteen days old and I’m finally back at the computer. What can I say.... it is better than I could have imagined. She is beyond beautiful. Let’s catch you up.
Stacia went into labor on Friday night the 23rd of April and proceeded to have contractions through the weekend. They were every ten minutes or so for ninety seconds or so. Great fun but still not active labor. We were sent home on Sunday for about eight hours.....to relax. Sunday night and Monday morning came and went and still we were no closer to pushing. We started a pitocin drip which actually made things worse. Through the whole ordeal, Hazels heart was beating strong and Stacia was fine, although she had lost her sense of humor.
Finally, on Monday afternoon 4/26/04 Hazel was born via C-Section. Mother and baby came through like champions. Stacia was the happiest she got that whole first week with her little morphine remote. I got to hang with the Z girl for an hour while Stacia recovered.
She latched on to my pinky and I was hooked.
I’ll spare everyone the details of what a C-section looks like but let it suffice to say that I watched it all. I will never forget the utter professionalism of Artie the doc and Nikki the midwife. They saved the life of the women I love like I make a tuna sandwich. I am so grateful.
The care in the hospital was fantastic. We’re lucky here in our community to have world class services and small town attention. The nurses played with Stacias boobs all week. Hazel did not latch that well and Stacias milk was just coming in so on Tuesday and Wednesday nights we were sleepless and depressed. Finally, on Thursday morning Stacia, like the Leo she truly is, got a plan together. We’re gonna feed, we’re gonna pump, we’re gonna burp, we’re gonna sleep, and two hours later we’re gonna do it again. Hazel gained three ounces Thursday night and Stacia and I slept six hours though not at one stretch.
We went home friday morning on the first solid seventy degree day of the season. The kid has been just fantastic so far. Stoic and gorgeous with a shock of black hair. She’s back to birth weight. When she cries we can usually figure out why pretty easily. She sleeps and let’s us, though I’m a little restless. She favors a pacifier often. Her eyes follow the fish on the Aquarium Cradle Swing that her uncle Brett gave her.
I can’t describe how much I love her.
This is a cover of Bob Dylans Hazel....
