Six Years

Six years ago today, my life changed forever.

I'll never forget the day we took my first child home from the hospital. I don't think anybody ever forgets that moment -- the fear, the uncertainty. Or the guilt, of knowing that you should absolutely not be legally permitted to leave the hospital as the only people officially in charge of any other person's life, let alone a tiny, defenseless, utterly helpless and dependent baby, caring for whom you know absolutely nothing about whatsoever. I don't scare easily, but believe me when I say, you don't know petrified until that's you leaving the hospital with your first newborn kid.

It's impossible to quantify all the ways your life changes the moment you change from an unencumbered individual -- even if you're married -- to a parent. Going out to dinner every night? Gone. Seeing movies in an actual theater? No more. Jaunting off to Vegas several times a year, just for kicks? Fat chance. Live poker in Atlantic City? Ha ha. Things like life insurance, driving carefully and even just eating healthy suddenly take on an entirely new meaning.

But even though it's sometimes those things that people like me tend to focus on publicly, having kids is not all just new responsibilities and less ability to enjoy the fun things in life. In fact, having kids makes you understand just how great the "fun things in life" can really be. Sure, I don't get to take lavish vacations to exotic locations like Hammer Wife and I used to do whenever we wanted to. But, it turns out, I had no idea just how much fun a vacation could really be until I started bringing my kids along with me, being there the first time they saw the clear blue water of the Caribbean, for their first encounter with a real life iguana, or even the first time they saw the stars from 2000 miles south of their home and about a million miles from the lights of the big city. And yeah, having to watch all of my favorite tv shows on the DVR nowadays cramps my style just a little bit. But you can't compare that to the feeling of being there when the little light bulb finally clicks over your daughter's head as you spend that time with her and her favorite book instead and she finally, for the first time, really starts to figure out how to read.

Six years ago today, my life changed forever. And now I cannot even fathom thinking that my life before my children actually fulfilled me back in those days.

Happy Birthday, M. You seriously light up my life.

On an unrelated note, I like the Buffalo Bills +3 against the New York Jets tonight in Toronto. Seems like everybody and their mother is picking the Jets to win their second straight game tonight against the 4-7 Bills, but I am just not seeing it with the Jets. If not for Jake Delhomme's JaMarcus Russell-worthy performance last Sunday, the Jets don't even beat the Carolina Panthers at home in a down year for Carolina last week, and the Bills have been playing some of their best football of the season since Dick Jauron got fired and was replaced as interim head coach by Perry Fewell three weeks ago. TO is back in the house with his three best performances of the season in those last three games, and as I mentioned the Jets continue not to play well as they look to claw their way back to .500 on the season. I would lean towards the Bills straight-up in this game which is most definitely a road game for the Jets, if not exactly a home game for the Bills, but with the three points I just can't stay away from the value on the Bills in this one.