Baby Coming

No, not for us. :)

My sister recently announced that she’s pregnant. For her and her husband, it was the culmination of nearly three years of trying. She told me over the phone a number of weeks ago, necessitated by our most recent family gathering being a little too early and our next visit being a little too late. I was smiling like an idiot and, truth be told, a little teary eyed at the same time.

Since the news broke, it’s been a nice emotional exercise for me just to think about the coming baby when my mood isn’t the greatest. When I’m cranky. Pissed off at work. Hands full with my own kids. It just takes a moment for me to think “ahhh, Claire’s pregnant” and my emotional barometer seems to reset.

She and her husband are going to make wonderful parents. They’ve watched our kids numerous times over the last four years and they have an inate ability to make both of them laugh, especially four-year old Alex. When Alex spent a weekend alone with them when he was about 2 ½ and came home with the phrase “What up dog?” firmly embedded in his vocabulary, thanks to crazy Uncle Tom, I knew he was in good hands.

Both Claire and Tom have wonderful personalities, a lot of zest for living and lots of love to give. This coming baby, boy or girl, is going to be a lucky child. . .

Our Hearts Are with the Huskies

Unless you're in outer space or a cave, you've no doubt heard what transpired yesterday at Northern Illinois University. No need to summarize it here as the news is all over the Web.

The shootings have impacted me in a couple of ways. First of all, I'm currently a graduate student in the communication program at NIU and walk by Cole Hall all the time. It' s right near Reavis and Du Sable Halls, where the journalism and communcation classes are held.

Secondly, the hospital in Rockford where I work is treating one of the victims, who arrived by helicopter last night right before 8 p.m. So, it was a crazy night and early morning dealing with media calls from across the country. The amount of misinformation that flows during a situation like this is readily apparent when you are personally involved in it. Fortunately, our patient is doing well. It's been a challenge, though, to protect his privacy from the prying eyes of the media.

Dealing with the situation on a professional level meant that it wasn't really until this morning that what had happened yesterday really hit me on a personal level. My family has a long history and relationship with NIU and DeKalb. My father has an undergraduate degree from NIU and my wife earned her master's in physical therapy from Northern. My grandmother has lived in DeKalb as long as I've been alive and my parents now live in Sycamore, DeKalb's next-door neighbor.

The DeKalb/Sycamore area is a sleepy little town dominated fairly well by the university. And, the region sits smack dab in the middle of the some of the most fertile farmland in the country. From the air, I'm fairly certain that its footprint among the cornfields is like Las Vegas in the desert. It's quiet in the summer, as college towns usually are, but hums with activity during the school year. In short, a nice town in which to live and go to school.

Never really dreamed that that quiet town amidst the corn fields would become the center of national media attention. And for all the wrong reasons. . .

Fog

Drove home from NIU last night in a fog. Literally, thanks to the ever-changing weather buffet that is the Midwest this winter. After the latest cool-down and six inches of snow, temps headed upward and the fog descended upon us.

However, as has been the case lately, now we're teed up for a major snowstorm that's supposed to dump anywhere from 10 to 14 inches of snow on us beginning tonight. Crazy stuff. Can't wait for spring.