Today's The Day...

           Today’s the day. Well, the NEXT day.
           There will be others, and soon, but today is the next day in my maiden voyage as a father-to-be, and it’s a biggie – it is the day my wife and I will find out the sex of our twins. We’ve made no secret about the fact that she and I are hoping for a boy and a girl, if for no other reason than to keep a peaceful, happy home. You see, she is convinced (based on her personal experience) that boys are much harder to raise than girls, while I am convinced that my chances of staying out of prison are increased exponentially by my having sons instead of daughters. Add to that the fact that my Step-Daughter wants girls and my Step-Son wants boys and the picture should be clear. One of each and everybody is content, if not happy.
           My wife and I have hit our knees even more than usual lately, (For those of you scoring at home, I am speaking figuratively…I mean, she’s having twins!) and our prayers have not been for boys, girls, or a combination thereof, but instead for healthy, happy babies who cherish their sleep and will instinctively love the Titans and Clemson with little or no prodding. If we have learned anything over the past few months, however, it is that the Good Lord has a sense of humor, and while I certainly am in no position to begrudge him this, I am a little nervous. For the benefit of those who may not know this, I was told early in adulthood that I may never have children, but if I did it would most certainly be with help from a fertility clinic, and that even then there were no guarantees. My wife was told after her last child that she would never again be able to bear children. She had actually planned to have a hysterectomy this very month. Our first plans regarding our life together revolved around a family of four and my being a Step-Father, and only a Step-Father. (ssshhhhhh…..hear that? That’s God slapping his knee and laughing!)
           Well, I am going to be a Father and today I find out whether I should go out and get some footballs, baseballs, gloves and bats and such, or start wearing orange scrubs to familiarize myself with what will surely be my daily attire sometime in the coming years. Leona and I have felt from the start that the twins are a boy and a girl, and hopefully that will come to fruition. You see, that way my daughter would have a brother there to protect her, at least from a physical standpoint. Otherwise, I’m not worried about a daughter of mine standing up for herself, because I’ve known a few Gaskill women and, when provoked, they have been known to make a grown man have to send those undies through the wash more than just the one time.
           But I do find myself wondering and hoping. And inevitably I find myself humbled and at the feet of a God that I know is leading and guiding me and my new family in a way that will most certainly lead to a greater place than anything I could even begin to fit in my brain. He is preparing my heart now a little at time, stretching it here and there so that it won’t suddenly burst from the boundless love that I feel for my Wife and Step-Children combined with the love I already feel for our two unborn children. He is preparing me with little treasures, unexpected and priceless. He was preparing me the day my Step-Son Elliott came running from the school to my waiting Jeep screaming “VERN!!” with his face illuminated. And in the moment that I saw my Mother with Elliott, her arm around him as he showed her something, like a boy would show his Grandmother. And in the moment that my Step-Daughter Sydney and I went to the store, just she and I, and she saw a boy from school…THE boy, apparently…and after they waved at each other she giggled like I had never seen nor heard her do for a solid half-hour, and I was able to laugh and share that with her. And in the moment that Sydney asked for my help with writing, and I realized again just how special the relationship between she and I is going to be. And in the moments that Leona says “Well, hello there, Babies”, or takes my hand and says “Do you feel that?”, and I do. And in the moment when my Mother gave me my Father’s wedding band to wear, still bearing the inscription from her to him dated 1955 and when Leona put it on my finger. And in the moments when I look at my bride and realize that we are finally together. And in the out of the blue moments when for no apparent reason everything I have been blessed with hits me again. And in the moments when I miss my friends, but then realize again how lucky I am to have them.
           Yes, he is preparing me.
           So through the miracle of technology known as the sonogram (and hopefully the 3D one, due to the fact that we’re going to the place for high risk pregnancies and they do those there) we are going to find out around 1:00 PM what sex the twins are. There will be quite a crowd there, as the kids and my Mother as well as Leona’s will be in attendance. Rest assured that I will come home and immediately post the results and the sonogram here as I know that many of you are excited to know as well. Thank you all again for your prayers and well-wishes. Know that they are appreciated so very much.
           This is the first of what will be regular updates on our family and the twins. I will do my very best to post at least one update per week, though I know that I would be able to post many more if time allowed because there doesn’t seem to be a day that goes by without something happening that makes it a special day.
           Like today.