Dividends

I remember the day pretty clear, a sunny but cold day, cold even for winter in South Dakota. My wife, Jen and I had just visited my maternal grandmother in Pierre and were headed back to Lincoln in the Pontiac. I was reading some local paper and an article caught my eye. It read something like 'Increase in fertility plans in hopes of millennium babies.' I read on about how there was a rush on Fertility drugs and doctors by couples all wanting to have the first baby on Jan 1, 2000.

Let me add a side note here. I am a pretty rare person. You see most people are born with their brains having everything they need to survive as a baby and as they grow up their brains develop with age. Not me. Ever since I was a kid I have known that I am missing that little part of the brain that tells most people when they should keep their mouth shut. I have numerous times in my life hurled myself into awkward, dangerous, and mostly just unpleasant situations lacking this cerebral function.

This is one of the few examples where something positive happened due to my above listed condition. I looked over at my wife and asked 'do you want to start having kids?' We really hadn't talked about it before. My wife looked at me and said 'Do YOU want to start having kids?' Then I saw her lips curl up, a little at first, then to her full blown Miss America smile, which stuck on her face most of that day. I don't remember how the rest of the conversation went but I felt Jen was most happy with me because I had brought the subject up first. After that we didn't talk about it much, and ten months later my wife gave birth to my son. The day, Dec 30,1999.

Fast forward to Nov 22, 2010. That same son of mine born two days before the new millennium walked out onto the stage of Norris High School auditorium and cranked out one of the finest renditions of Billy Joel's Piano Man. At least the finest I had heard anyway. Paxton said he missed a couple of notes, but it sure didn't sound like it to me and the crowd didn't seem to mind.

It was one of those moments of being a parent which gets seared into the brain. It was the Dividends for all the nasty dirty dippers, the ear infection doctor trips, the missed TV shows to check over homework. I have no illusions over how hard it is to be a parent and know that it's only going to get harder, we haven't even hit driver's licenses, girlfriends or college tuition. But the feeling I felt last night only reinforced the decision made in the south bound Pontiac some where in South Dakota, was the most important, and best decision my wife and I ever made.

-Good Day

I'm trying to imbed the video but can't right now. So here is the website of Paxton's performance.

http://qik.com/video/19867726