Daybreak

Several people here are work have stopped in my office over the course of this week to ponder, “Hey, is the baby here yet?” Wow, good question there. I’m going to respond to you with a simple, “Nope, not yet,” in order to inform you that no, in fact, my wife has not given birth yet. But in reality, and while I may keep this to myself through the duration of our little conversation here, I would really prefer to respond with, “Oh, the baby? Yes, she’s here. Doing fine. Born an hour ago. And yet, here I am sitting at my desk, finishing this mundane spreadsheet and getting a chuckle over this FoxTrot comic someone just e-mailed me. No, stupid. Of course she’s not here.”

Okay. Went back and read that just now. Appears I’m channeling Scrubs’ Dr. Cox with the opening to day. Sit back and enjoy the ride, newbie.

In a matter of hours/days, our little girl will decide which of all the days in the Gregorian calendar will be the most important day of her little year – her birthday. Days surrounding one’s actual birthday pale in comparison; for it is a day that the world has attributed to your continued existence that makes it so special. I’ve got a good birthday – it’s September 30th. How strong does that sound? Yeah – good month, good day. Hey, I share a day with Johnny Mathis, Martina Hingis, and Sara Throckmortion.

There are some days in the calendar that one would preferably opt not to be born on. Take December 25th – nobody likes a “combo” gift. And even if you become incredibly famous, no blogger with that birthday is going to mention sharing a birthday with you over, say, Jesus. And what of February 2nd? We’ve dedicated that one to a groundhog. “What’s that? Today’s your birthday? Man, that’s a shame. I saw on the news that the groundhog saw his shadow, which only means that we’re all going to die.”

I’ve never quite gotten the grasp of that holiday.

So what of the today and the few that follow? What shared feats of awesomeness could possibly greet the future birthday of Clara Grace? Oh, Wiki Gods, let us know.

TODAY – FEBRUARY 8th!
Important Events: Ok, let’s see here. In 1693, William and Mary was granted its official charter from England – that would be cool, considering Katie and I met there. A year prior in 1692, a doctor in Salem, Mass declared three girls are witches – that might come in handy the first time she breaks curfew. And the first female Olympic ice hockey game took place on this day in 1998 – maybe we’ll have a little Cammi Granato on our hands.

Famous Birthdays: Dave Kull, General Tecumseh Sherman, Jack Lemmon, Ted Koppel, John Grisham, Seth Green, and the Mongolian politician Demchugdongrub, which might accidentally be the baby’s first word.

Holidays: The 8th is Preseren Day, a cultural holiday in Slovenia. Um, what?

TOMORROW – FEBRUARY 9th!
Important Events: Note: This is Clara’s actual due date, so let’s see what magic falls on Friday. In 474, Zeno was crowned the co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Strangely enough, he wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up, but space travel wouldn’t be invented for another 1500 years. In 1942, it was the first ever use of Daylight Saving Time – I can never remember, would that give sleep-deprived parents of newborns one extra or one less hour of sleep?

Famous Birthdays: William Henry Harrison, Joe Pesci, Amber Valletta, Zhang Ziyi, Mookie Wilson, John Kruk, and Vladimir Guerrero – so, baseball anyone?

Holidays: Tomorrow, I’d like to wish one and all a very happy and blessed Saint Maroon’s Day. Hey, at least it’s better than Groundhog Day.

(If neither of these days end up being THE day, a Weekend Edition of Daybreaker will run. Stay tuned.)