Raylene is due with our first baby, a boy! I can’t claim to be a particularly patient guy, so the anticipation is killing me right now. Trying to get stuff done that I need to do, but hard not to await the phone call from Raylene that it’s time to go to the hospital! This morning we went for brunch and ran into a friend of ours who just had her first baby boy about 5 months ago. She had him with her, and it really hit me today for the first time .. I’m really going to have one of those soon! And I just CAN’T wait. I am tremendously blessed to have pretty much everything I could ask for in my life. The greatest part of it all is that I now have the freedom to take as much time off as I want to enjoy the first moments of his life.. the days and weeks at home, helping Raylene with our new baby. Yesterday, one of our partners (and an INCREDIBLE speaker and just all-around nice guy) Les Hewitt dropped by our office and I had a great chat with him. I asked him what the secret of raising great kids is (since he’s done a great job himself). The biggest thing, he said, was to be there for the important things in their life. He said that without question, the most powerful part of being a parent is being there as they grow up, because it happens so fast. Being at the hockey game or the school recital.. those moments are precious, and irreplaceable.. and those moments are how you reflect back on your life as a parent. I have grand plans of being very involved in Cooper’s life .. of being the tiny-mite hockey coach of his team, and being there any time he needs me to help him with homework, or deal with a problem he’s struggling with. I truly have the best role model a kid could ever have in my own dad. I’ve said it before, and it’s really true. When I die, my greatest satisfaction would be that people remember me as my father’s son. He’s an incredible person, and has shown me what it means to be a terrific dad. It’s a big job and takes a lot of patience, but I can’t wait for my chance to win that coffee mug that will sit on my desk, proclaiming “World’s Greatest Dad“. The anxiety in waiting for the labour to start is driving me crazy .. but I know I’m about to embark on one of life’s greatest journeys. And I don’t think I could be more ready for this! I’ve been talking to him a lot in Raylene’s belly, and I can’t wait to hold him for the first time in the hospital. Of course, knowing his mother, I’m expecting he’s going to show up fashionably late. C’mon Cooper-man, daddy wants to meet you!]]>