n9ik’s radio blog

Linda kept saying all day yesterday that the baby was going to be born today. She said it over, and over.

She was right. As usual, her “connection” with the people in her life was at work. Lane got the call this morning at 05:05; his daughter, Mackenzie Jo Strickland, was born at 02:21 this morning, healthy, and was about 8 lb. 2 oz., or thereabouts. He wasn’t exactly sure when he told us, being in a pretty emotional state, as any young father would be who’d been denied the Life Experience of being present when his first child is born.

The baby’s mother, Lanes “ex” girlfriend (I won’t use her name here, out of respect for her), whether she meant it to be or not, executed one of the greatest cruelties possible towards a young man: she did not call him to let him know that she was going into labor, allowing him the time honored privilege of all fathers for generations past – to pace and fret about the maternity ward waiting room, awaiting the magic of seeing his first born daughter, of hearing her first wailing cry, of seeing the purple confusion of features on what must be the most beautiful baby ever born, even if she has been made a bit ugly and deformed from being squeezed through the birth canal. All babies are beautiful-ugly, ugly-beautiful, but no young father ever sees the ugly part, or at least never acknowledges it in his heart of hearts.

Now, as Linda says, Lane is “too nice.” As badly as I know he must have wanted to rush right over the hospital to see this wondrous new life he helped bring into the world, he decided to respect the girl’s wishes, let her sleep, and not arrive until visiting hours at 11:00. Me, if I wasn’t already there, I’d be in the car and on the way before I’d hung up the phone.

Another cruelty pressed upon Lane – the baby is not to carry his name. Mackenzie Jo Strickland, not Mackenzie Jo Strickland-Farrow, or Farrow-Strickland, as Lane had hoped.