Published April 17, 2005 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
Any time you go through life changes in a small town, you’re going to get plenty of advice. Since my wife Christina and I are going through multiple major events in one year, we can’t walk 10 feet through a public place without being pelted by words of wisdom.
First of all, we’re expecting our first child in early June. Let me start by saying that we don’t know the gender, we have names but aren’t telling and everyone involved appears to be healthy. I should get this information printed on a t-shirt, because almost every person I’ve told has followed up with those exact questions in that exact order.
We’ve been to all the classes. I’ve diapered a demo baby and, though it was an inanimate rubber doll, I’m pretty sure it would have lived through the process had it been the real thing. We’ve also been shopping for all the baby supplies that we’ll need. It never seems like enough, but I feel confident saying that the little guy or gal won’t be sleeping in a gunnysack at the foot of our bed after all.
In addition to preparing for the new arrival, we are also building a home this summer in nearby Itasca County, out on the family lake I’ve previously referenced as “Lake Boony” in my column. Well, WE aren’t actually building the house; qualified contractors are. I wouldn’t live in a house built by my two hands – at least, not for long. The falling beams and radon clouds would do me in before the grass seed took root.
If you’ve ever built a home before, you can no longer afford a newspaper and probably aren’t reading this. So never mind.
OK, fine. I’ll operate on the assumption that middle class home “builders” like myself are reading this newspaper at a public library or in the waiting room of the plasma donation center. Hello, comrades. I’ll be seeing you behind the grocery store when they throw out the expired food. Just don’t take my moldy dinner rolls or I’ll cut you with this piece of glass I found in the alley. Arrrr!
You know those stories you see in the news about “rising building supply costs.” Darn if that didn’t come crashing down on my oblivious self just very recently.
We have heard from several people that if a marriage can survive the building of a house, it emerges stronger than ever. Paradoxically, I’ve heard the same thing about having a child. Since Christina and I will have done both by the time our next anniversary rolls around, I fully expect to be able to crush diamonds and tow boulders with our marriage.
It’s too bad all our diamond and boulder money will be tied up in doorknobs, two-by-fours and diapers. That’s just as well. The greatest display of power is restraint.
Actually, as much as I should be riddled with anxiety over all this, I feel eerily calm. We can spread our house plans and an ultrasound picture (which medical professionals assure me depicts an actual baby) across our coffee table and see a future full of exciting new things. Will it be stressful? BACK OFF AND STOP ASKING! OK, yeah, it might be a little stressful. But it will be worth it.
It’s easy to let life become the dull time between popular primetime television shows. As broke and spastic as I might become in the next few months, I’m proud to say that we’re going to be living life to its fullest. And I’d entertain all the advice anyone cares to give. I’m pretty sure I’ll need it.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.