One year ago from today

I found out I was going to be a father. It's kind of a crazy thought as Helena already feels like a such an important part of the family. Depending on how you feel about embryo's I suppose she already was last July as well.

The morning I found out about Helena, Maya messaged me while I was in New Zealand and told me we needed to talk. I assumed I was in trouble and had done something wrong as most men would in this case (it was 8 AM NZ time). But instead I was shocked, even though physically obviously I knew it was possible, finding out she was pregnant came out of left field. It had happened so quickly and since we weren't telling people right away I couldn't (or didn't want to rather) announce anything on this blog - specifically around the time of this post.

And then I was back in New Zealand, thousands of miles away, on an adventure WWOOFing, hitchhiking, sightseeing, and meeting a young 19 year old German named Max. Although we only knew each other for less than two days, it was a very memorable time. Max had convinced me to go on a winter hike to Brewster hut (see pic.) below even though I had almost no winter gear and wasn't sure we'd survive the night. He, like many NZ visiters (especially from Europe, of which there are many), was already an experienced winter hiker and assured me we'd be fine. While we didn't end up reaching the top of the mountain, we did travel a significant distance through some serious challenge. Once we reached elevation (after a hitchhiking adventure to get to the mountain), the snow was often several feet deep and even the gators I bought didn't stop the snow from getting in and freezing my legs. We made it to the hut and spent a night discussing life stuff by candle light and witnessing one of the most beautiful full moons I had ever seen. Thankfully, the pipe with the running water, so important at the time, thawed in the morning and we made it down just fine. Back at the road we said our fairwells and went our separate hitchhiking ways (which unfortunately involved several hours of waiting alone after he got picked up quickly going in the opposite direction).

Now one year later Max writes to me to ask if I remember him and to ask if I ended up naming our child Brewster- ha! I told him we hadn't but it was amazing to look back one year ago today and put my feet back in those icy cold snow-filled NZ boots. This is especially true in the two shower summer days of Atlanta where I currently exist.

Dead of Summer

Amazingly we've already arrived at the middle of summer and a friend today asked me how I felt about going back to school so soon and I was almost mad that she asked the question, that is until I realized that she was right. What happened to the three month long summers I seem to remember from childhood? Now I basically get two months - now I know most non-teachers out there would tell me to shut my mouth and stop complaining, but once you become a teacher you think about summer differently again. It's such a crazy ride during the school year and you really do put everything off until summer. I'm not even talking about big projects like refinishing the porch or getting a new dog, but simple things like going to the dentist, calling up an old friend, visiting a park you want to check out. And I'm doing some of those things, but I guess my list is long, time is passes more quickly than it seems at this point in my life, and I have a baby. And the big trips of summer are finished and I have a longer stretch here now to keep busy and enjoy life.

Taking care of Helena has been the majority of my focus this summer and it has not been a bad thing. Just the opposite really, I've enjoyed my time at home and while some days can pass by more slowly than others, she does cute things every day and I love that she has now started chuckling. Other days it can be frustrating when I want to get something small done, like mow the lawn, or research some product, and it can be difficult with the constant need to pay attention to Helena. I'd honestly probably have a harder time if I didn't know that at some point this would end and I'd be going back to work. It's not that I don't think I could be a stay-at-home dad, I'm just not sure doing that full-time would be intellectually stimulating enough for me.

We had a really great time in Denver and I can check two things off of my Colorado bucket list - Boulder (bizarro Burlington) and Red Rocks Amphitheater where we saw a fun 4th of July fireworks show in the horizon. Traveling with Helena has actually not been so hard and it's nice to be together as a family rather than alone with Helena while Maya is at work all day. PRK eye surgery was intense and took me some time to recover from (am still recovering really). I can finally see pretty well without any corrective lenses which is pretty amazing.

After finishing a lot of boring time researching appliances and finally deciding on those purchases I can move onto some other more exciting things with the few weeks I have remaining of summer. I probably need to start thinking about school year stuff too as I've not given that two thoughts yet this summer. Yesterday I volunteered in the morning with Helena at Concrete Jungle picking apples. Despite the heat of summer here, if I give up early enough (it's been a struggle getting up before 9 despite the fact that Helena usually sleeps through the night) I can do things with Helena and would really like to go on some hikes and explore more of ATL. Today I did an Audubon walk and pretended to be a birder.

Eating out at the Dashanbe Tea house in Boulder

Uncle Brad with Helena at the pro shop

Traveling Helena!

Brad and Rachel Wedding up in the beautiful CO mountains 

8 mile Beltline walk with Sherlock 

Red Rocks 

Golf with Brad after the wedding

Flatirons near Boudler

Keystone, CO