Grace

“It seems like I should write something about coronavirus,” I thought to myself. I’m sitting in a very empty Amazon office in Austin, Texas on a Saturday. I’m trying to make-up for a day I took off on Wednesday to shuttle Grace to a Primary Care doctor who promptly told me to take her to Dell Children’s Hospital for possible appendicitis. I knew it wasn’t appendicitis, but meh. I needed some time away from work. There’s been a swizzle of what Amazon calls “Product,” meaning two new “Managers” came on my project. Now we have: ...

So, my daughter found a cute trick about 3 weeks ago: If you set a bunch of dry oatmeal in a non-microwavable playset bowl on 5 minutes in the microwave, it catches fire. Lots of fun things result: You mommy trotting you out into the cold, lots of folks with sirens showing up, seeing the inside of a Crown Victoria as you shelter from the sub-zero temperatures. Thankfully, though the microwave was toast and there was smoke in the house, nothing happened permanently and everyone was safe. ...

To Maria and Grace, my lovely daughters, Today I learned your blood runs very deep in this country, and deep in Kentucky. Here is your lineage: Your father’s full name is Harold Ray Combs, born in 1978 to Harold Gene and Dottie (Haddix) Combs. Harold Gene was born in 1953 to Bryan and Cora (McIntosh) Combs. (We tend to say the ‘McIntosh’ part of the line is where our crazy comes from, but I’m not so sure.) ...

“This is definitely the kind of seizure you want your kid to have.” What?! She was an ER resident with an icy, direct gaze and a no-frills haircut. At that moment, I couldn’t remember her name because I was busy trying to get my wife to drink something as she held our daughter, who, an hour before, had just had a grand mal seizure in our downstairs bathtub. An hour or so later, our other two kids were at a friend’s house, my car had a Check Engine Light because I flogged it so hard getting to UK Hospital, and we were both trying to process what happened. ...

Background: I have a 6 week old infant daughter. In an ongoing effort to avoid sleep deprivation psychosis, my wife and I now alternate “standing watch” for Grace each night. Last night was my night. Man, a day that ends at midnight and begins at 4:30 sucks. Really could’ve done with another hour of sleep at least. Still, it beats Sunday night/Monday morning, at which time my daughter went to bed at 11:30, then woke up at 2:30 and screamed the next 18 hours.