"Land Hurricane"

What a wild night. We've have such strange weather here in Minnesota. The temperature dropped. The winds are blowing everything all over the place. I saw the first snowflakes of the season this morning. A local news outlet called the storm a "land hurricane," which is a bit much, but still it made for tough sleeping.

I woke up at 4:45 am and walked out into the living room and looked over at my phone. All was quiet, so I went back to sleep. About an hour later, I woke up again, and did the same thing. This time, I saw the message light blinking. Half awake, I listened to the message. The baby had come, a few days early, to the surprise of almost everyone. I'm now an uncle!

At 3 am, my sister and her boyfriend had been at home, awake for most of the previous day. They knew it was close, but I guess it didn't feel as close as it really was. Yes, it is their first child, but both had been preparing for months, doing everything they could to learn about babies and the birthing process. So, it was surprising to say the least to wake up to that phone message, and find out that they had made it the hospital maybe 45 minutes before the birth happened.

I have never been much of a baby person. In fact, I've often worried about getting girlfriends pregnant in the past, feeling like having a kid wasn't part of the script I had about my life. Maybe it still isn't, however, holding my nephew this afternoon, I felt some of that baby angst slide away, and realized to some degree why it is that most people gush over the little ones. There aren't really words for it. But it's truly amazing that the kid in my arms had been in my sister's stomach just eight hours earlier.

And that he came during a wild storm, appearing after a wild rush across town to the hospital in the middle of the night, makes it that much more amazing.

May he be happy, healthy, and joyful!

*Photo of a house in St. Paul, MN after Tuesday's storm.