The Baby

So as many of you know Marelize and I are expecting our first Schaefer Jr. in mid-January of 2008. As I write that it seems pretty far off, but when I stop to dwell on it I get a pit in my stomach....the "OH MY GOD I'M 23 AND GOING TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR A HUMAN LIFE!" pit of nervousness that only an expectant first-time parent knows. Marelize and I went into marriage planning on having children fairly early on in our lives. For me, I wanted the energy to be able to whoop up on my kids in sports well into their teenage years (some sort of sick satisfaction I guess of knowing that I didn't leave all my glory at Deti Stadium in high school) and for Marelize, she would like to be done having children by her early thirties. We felt we were financially in a position to support a child at this moment in time...the Air Force pays for 100% of the costs, so thank you tax paying citizens of America for my college and now my first child...and after much prayer, discussion and one to0 many times of watching "A Baby Story" on TLC we decided we'd go for it.

After first finding out Marelize was prego we went through several weeks of anxiety about telling people. We understood that we were going against the common advice of waiting to have children until later on in our marriage, so naturally we were worried that people would not be happy with our news, but rather skeptical or somehow half-hearted in their congratulations, almost waiting to see us fail and say I told you so. But, the reaction was quite the opposite, our parents, family and friends all were thrilled with the news which was a tremendous blessing and load off our backs.

So now the madness has begun. Ultrasounds, books on pregnancy, the purchasing of the cool, but no so expensive that you look like you're trying to prove something, baby gear (who knew that such and innocent seeming industry, baby accessories, could be such ravenous wolves, preying on the fears of first-time parents...."I don't know if my stroller can go off-road, should it be able to? Is off-roading something babies do on a day-to day basis?")...much more to come on this topic, I feel that by the end of these 9-months I will have enough humorous material on the baby industry to write quite a book. Anyway, I must say that I am really excited to be a father. When Marelize and I first got to see our child moving around on the ultrasound a few weeks ago I got a taste of what the life of a parent will be like and it was sweet!

T-1 Daze

Today I completed my third flight in the T-1 Jayhawk. The T-1 is the Air Force's primary heavy aircraft trainer. It is a modified Beechcraft 400A, basically what most people know as a Lear jet.

It has been quite a transition from the T-6 Texan, my last plane that I trained in, somewhat like going from a Porsche to an Escalade...both sweet rides, but different styles of driving. One of the major adjustments has been getting used to flying a much longer mission. The average time of a local T-6 mission was around 1.3 (approx 1hr and 20min)....length of the typical T-1 mission around 3.2 (3hr and 15min). But, it seems to go fast because we get to go a lot further from home base so things stay new and interesting.

A few of the things that make flying the T-1 awesome: autopilot, much more advanced avionics...during flight the plane can tell you exactly how far you from anywhere, how long to get there, what route you need to take, what the weather will be like, airports, runways, approaches...its amazing once you get used to using all of the features. Other things I like: much more comfortable seating (a recliner instead of an ejection seat) and finally a toilet in the back.

86th Time's a Charm!

I've always been the type of person that believes in keeping a journal. There's something very romantic about it, the idea that one can narrate his life through the years and at the end of the day have a nice little...uh...narrative. I recently added "The Reagan Diaries" to my wish list on Amazon.com; it seems like we have quite a fascination with people's diaries...MTV had a show for a while called Diary, I'm not sure if its still on...I remember it started with a line saying, "You may think you know, but you have no idea." Very mysterious indeed. Of course my boyhood hero Doogie Howser M.D. kept a diary on his personal computer...very avant-garde at the time. As a young person I remember the fascination with reading other people's diaries to find out who they liked, brothers would steal their big sister's diaries to use as bargaining chips during intense conflicts...I didn't grow up with any brothers or sisters, but this is what Hollywood taught me.

ANYway, I still have a fascination with the idea of recording everyday life....thus, the blog. I have journaled off and on for much of my life....I go in streaks normally of about a month or two with year long gaps in between. Then, once I come back to the journal I always regret not journaling in so long and attempt an extensive multi-page summary of all the events missed during my time off...sometimes its fun, other times pure torture.

This blog will not replace my journal (that's private of course...I wonder if Reagen knew his "private" diary would one day be on the NY Times Bestseller list), but I am excited at the idea of having a medium to think out loud and let some of my friends see and think aloud with me. Ideas aren't much fun unless you can discuss them among friends.