Todd and I were preparing to travel to UVA, in Charlottesville, VA, to defend our comps for our doctoral program. Long hours studying, beginning our dissertation proposals, the fear of failure, and life with a three year old all combined in a perfect storm of nail biting, snap your head off, paralyzing stress.
Little Bess would go to Nana and Poppy's the next day and Todd and I would check into our hotel for a last minute study binge before comps on Friday. We probably wouldn't even be able to speak to each other until it was over.
Then the phone rang.
"Your son was born today. I need a name. Meet me at the hospital in Martinsville tomorrow. Bring your daughter."
Wait, what?
No name, no car seat, no baby clothes...our brains were full of Thomas Jefferson.
Screech!!!! Nothing like an unexpected, life changing phone call to bring priorities into focus.
That night, we ran to the store for baby supplies. The next morning we packed up our daughter, our diaper bag, and our dry cleaned suits and left for Martinsville, VA.
On Thursday, we met our sweet son, loaded him into the car, stopped half way to Charlottesville to let his big sister hold him, and checked into our hotel on the UVA campus. We never cracked a book. We sat in a circle on the bed and stared, dumbfounded, at this baby who was suddenly our son.
The next morning, after a sleepless night, we dressed our kids in orange and blue, and took turns parenting and defending our comps.
Then, we dragged ourselves home and took the whole weekend to just marvel at our little miracle.
He's never stopped surprising us.
Happy Birthday, sweetheart.
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