In the middle of one night a little more than twenty-nine years ago, I was minding my own business drinking a weak cup of coffee in the delivery room of a local hospital. Wife was hyperventilating on a gurney across from me.
The space was quite different from that of the two other such facilities in which I’ve found myself and in fact it no longer exists. The walls were unusually tall and there was a light catching clerestory window near the ceiling. The approach of a thunderstorm was thus made quite apparent by unnerving pulses of light and shadow well in advance of any associated sound effects.
It must have been a fast moving cold front because it came on with disturbing speed and menace. The pounding of the rain on the window made the panes bow and weep. The lighting became nearly continuous and the thunder grew to a deafening crescendo. Loose vials and small instruments rattled on the stainless steel countertops.
Boom boom BOOM. A bolt apparently hit a nearby transformer which exploded and lit the sky up with an incredible flash of blue. Lights went out. Just as the generator kicked in and they flickered back on there was a wail. Holy dogs. I stood and pressed my back against the wall and wondered what in the world I’d gotten myself in for.
“It’s a girl” Doc said. New force of nature would have been closer to the truth. She = MC2
With that for a start, I shouldn’t have been surprised when a little more than a year ago she emailed us from Melbourne that she was going to Tasmania with some boy. Tasmania! Who goes to Tasmania? Isn’t the place full of devils? Who’s this dude?
I soon calmed down and realized that she was taking him to see our good friends Dirk and Loretta. Aha! During the visit I called and Dirk said “No worries man, he’s a really fine bloke. You’ll like him.”
Other daughter visited and sent rave reviews and photos. Wife and I hip checked each other in front of the computer screen to get a glimpse. He looked pretty good. Daughter smiled broadly.
In the flesh even better. Man. Firm handshake and confident countenance. Didn’t take long to find that they’d been cut from the same cloth. Both drawn to land’s end.
Me very lucky boy.
The Subtle Landscape 
September 1, 2009 at 8:49 pm |
that whole weekend seems like a dream now.