Recap Time

Let me spend a few minutes catching folks up on the past few weeks. My assumption is most if not all of you know the story so this will be a little condensed.

Shelly and I decide last fall we'd try to have a baby. When she began having back problems and was told of the possibility of surgery and heavy meds we put a little haitus on the pregnacy possibility. Shelly accompanies me on a business trip to the Nashville area in February. She comes home and I stay another week. I return March 7th after a day of flight delays, snow, layovers, etc. I arrive late at night in KC and am smoked after a busy couple of weeks of 15 hour days. Shelly is acting a little weird (more so than normal) and is asking if I want to go to dinner, do I want to sit and talk, etc. I'm pretty much just ready for bed and begin to head that direction.


She stops me and pulls out what I now know was a pregnacy test. Puzzled, I hold it and am not sure what to make of it but am now glad I didn't think it was a thermometer and put it in my mouth. Then she shows me a homemade drawing of two adult stick figures, a child stick figure, and a little dog and of course the obligatory tree and sunshine. Still a little groggy, I think it's the same drawing I made for her for Valentines Day, minus the little child.


Just as it's beginning to sink in, she hands me a book called "Your pregnancy for the father to be". After 10 seconds went by I took my first breath as Shelly said, "Are you still not getting it?!". My reply was "Are you with child?" Yes ladies and gentlemen, of all things I could say to my wife and new mother to be, my response was something an Amish guy would say (no offense to the Amish who may be reading this, your baked goods are wonderful).


After a day at home I fly to Virginia Beach for a one week conference. I had planned to fly back to KC early on the Friday morning before Easter weekend so we could jump in the car and head to Porter to tell my parents. More flight cancellations led to Shelly driving without me and me flying directly to Tulsa that night. But it all worked out, except for the fact Shelly and I were never alone until hours later after dinner. (I did not know Shelly was having twins yet). After mom, dad, Mandy, and Shelly and I return from dinner everyone spreads out in different rooms. Upon completion of multiple ititerations of hand and arm signals between Shelly and me while my mother is reading the paper in the same room as us, I decide to go and get dad and ask him to come into the living room. I then tell them they are going to be grandparents again. Everyone is going crazy and mom begins to bolt towards to phone to call Marcy on vacation in Alabama. Shelly then shouts for everyone to stop because she needs to tell "something else that not even Michael knows". We all freeze in place as Shelly says something like (and this part is a bit of a blur to me) "It's going to be TWINS!" Fortunately the chair I was leaning on preventing my immediate fall to the floor. I stood there in shock and after another 10 second period I blinked and took a breath for the first time before joining in the celebration, still numb, weak in the knees, and partially belligerent.


After screaming and hugging from Mom, Dad, Mandy, and Shelly and controlled breathing on my part, mom called Marcy then put me on the phone. She asked if I was surprised and my response was, "Marcy, if I woke up in the morning with my head sewn to the carpet I wouldn't be any more surprised than I am right now". If you saw National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation you will think that makes complete sense. If you did not see it you will think I'm a complete dufus. Or possibly you'll think both.


So there you have it. With Marcy and Shelly both tag teaming dissemination of information it didn't take long for the news to get out.


My next post later today will be on the different reactions from my guy friends vs. the different reactions for Shelly's girl friends. Of course they are much different. Then I'll be off the net for a couple of days while traveling.


Mike

Kansas City, MO