The Shift

Throughout the year, I have penned numerous thoughts via the Dad Chronicles. While I think it is unlikely that I’ll ever turn the series into a paperback book, I do have my blog to serve as an ebenezer of my daughter’s first year of life and the progress we have made together. Was every day easy? Hell no, but parenthood is hard work even with beautiful ten-month-old girls like mine. Does she make it worthwhile? Yes, in ways none of us would have ever expected or dreamed. Moreover, I’ve noticed a shift in my own day-to-day life, routines, and priorities.

When did the shift happen? Let’s say it was somewhere around July 20 when Caeli finally graduated from the NICU, but it could’ve been a lot sooner or a little later. I’ve not always been the most conscious of myself, so your opinions may vary.

Nonetheless, the shift seems to clearly be for the better.

One thing that has happened is I have let you into my life a lot more intimately than I would have even this time last year. As my wife can attest, there are few people who can micromanage a message like me; telling the tale should have thawed the perceived ice wall I had placed between some of us. Even in my most honest moments, I only told you what I wanted you to know and little, if anything, more. [Sidebar:  A lot of people know my name, the city I live in, where I attend church and my employer, and precious few other things; sharing my story about Caeli and my marriage to Chastity for the past several months is certainly outside of the norm]. I am still guarded about my wife and daughter as expected – and even now, it seems that people look forward to picture day which is the 13^th of the month.

Another shift that has come from writing the Dad Chronicles is that I no longer have the desire to stay at work for extra shifts, and from what I observed when I came back from my most recent vacation, I do not have a want to continue working the night shift. The extra money is cool, but two things have transpired along the way:  1) the tax man is going to really beat me down; and 2) I was missing out on significant events. Fortunately, I was home when Caeli said her first word: “mama”. She said “dada” the other morning when I was leaving her grandparents’ house to return home and sleep. We’re currently working on learning how to crawl, and with this gifted child, that won’t take too long.

Man, my life has shifted more than a semi driver who cannot “jake brake” in a small town.

It’s also strange that I have gotten more use of my English degree from Henderson in the past few years blogging than I ever did teaching sullen ninth- and tenth-graders the nuances of the English language or roaming around the Appalachian Mountains with groups of tweeners for roughly sixty hours per week developing team building skills and becoming more cognizant of both nature and the sciences alike. I’m glad I got out before Common Core sunk its claws into school districts and inept politicians nationwide as the standard for learning.

A third shift (not funny, I’m still working the graveyard shift after all these years) comes from having to really concern myself with a helpless being who sleeps, coos, poops, eats, pees, cries, smiles, laughs, and plays. Once I found myself becoming decent at getting Caeli dressed and a ‘poop-ologist’, I didn’t feel as overwhelmed as I did in the NICU even after asking every dumb question under the sun because I simply did not know the answers.

I also ran from the discussion about having children not that long ago, but I guess chalk that up to trepidation.

I’m not a perfect parent by any means (ask Chastity) and I may have ruined anyone from babysitting our daughter in the foreseeable future, but one thing I have shifted into is how much I love my little family and what I will do for them. Joshua 24:15 states “Choose ye this day whom you will serve, but as for ME and MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.” I use that as the primary Scripture for how the Armstrong Household operates and hopefully am an okay enough example of what is being commissioned for me to do.

I shifted from dude to dad, traveler to homebody, workaholic to…well, not quite one who can turn down overtime easily, and maybe I am not as nerdy as I once was. The days of living on the fly are long gone, replaced by deliberate thoughts and long-term decisions that potentially can affect multiple generations down the road, so I better get that part right.

Sam Cooke did tell us that change is coming – and here it is, live and in living color.