So, here I am starting this Blog. I've done so because my wife is currently six months pregnant with our first child. I am hoping to use this as an outlet to write about my experiences as a new father and to provide to our family periodic updates on our progress.

One of the things I do in my spare time is officiate high school football. I enjoy this activity very much, but I have a bad habit that I can't seem to fully shake. Several times in a game, I will be so intense and so focused on making sure that I cover a play, that I move in too fast and get to close to the players and the action that is taking place. Ideally, I would be stationary and taking in the entire action of the play at a reasonable distance. Ideally, I would be taking the "wide angle" viewpoint. When I rush in to try to make sure that I have everything under control, I miss out on all of the important action taking place just outside my field of vision. In an effort to control my circumstances, I lose the perspectrive I need to do my job as an official.

So, the wide angle view on life right now, as I prepare for fatherhood (which is really all ready upon me, it's just that the baby is locked up in the womb currently), is that I sure hope that I allow myself to not be too controlling, too involved in my son's life. I want our son to take chances, make mistakes, and develop into a well-rounded and independent adult capable of making a contribution to this world.

Another wide angle thought is that I sure hope to be half the dad that my father was/is to me. My dad always had time for us and that did not come easy. He made us a priority and it was not something that he just talked about, but he lived it every day. My dad taught me how to love...my God, my family, my wife. I learned it not by listening to my Dad, but by watching and being with my Dad. As Mario Cuomo once said, "I talk and talk and talk, and I haven't taught people in 50 years what my father taught by example in one week." That was my Dad too.

The last wide angle thought I have is that I don't want to get so consumed by our son (at least not over any length of time) that I forget to keep my relationships and priorities in order. God, Wife, and then family (another valuable lesson I learned from both of my parents). I can't be a the Dad I want to be without having my relationships in the right place.

So, these are some of the thoughts running through my mind these days as I think about the impending birth of our boy. Interesting how football teaches all of us incredibly interesting life lessons.