From Bee Gees to MPG

On December 9, 2003, my life extraordinarily changed. Michael was born, and nothing was ever the same.

I imagine that separating life before children and after is pretty common for people, particularly as the years pass and the kids grow. The run-up to that first child takes on its own little era. Fall 2023 saw Lori and me settling into our new home, watching the Cubs get within five outs of the World Series, playing Gamehouse and PopCap online games (that was just me), welcoming my sister to Salt Lake City for a visit to paint the walls of the baby's bedroom, and readying everything that needed to be ready for a new child.

Moreover, the night we went to the hospital, the day of Michael's birth, and the few weeks after through the new year are also rich with memories. I mean, how could they not be? When life changes extraordinarily, you tend to remember things ...

What's a blur from this time is the couple weeks right before Dec. 9 (technically, Dec. 8, when we went to the hospital so Lori could be induced). I don't remember Thanksgiving.I don't remember any baby preparations. I don't remember work. I put Christmas lights out front, a couple strings of round blue bulbs (I loved those lights), but don't remember actually hanging them. We went from fall to baby with seemingly nothing in between. 

One odd memory does stand out, and I'm not sure why it has stayed with me for 20 years when so much else is so blank. I was returning home from work on a Saturday evening (I don't think it was three days before Michael was born, but rather, the week before), driving through the city from the old Salt Lake Tribune offices on Main Street in downtown SLC. I was headed south on a street that, back then, reminded me of a Chicago arterial through a residential neighborhood -- kind of a narrower busy street, houses on each side, orange streetlight every 25 yards. I was listening to the oldies station, and it played "Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)" by the Bee Gees. 

So subconsciously, I'm sure I knew the song from nearly three decades earlier, but that night, it seemed like a classic Bee Gees song that was brand new -- and pretty good. The harmonies on "Fanny" are great, and it simply made an odd impact, perhaps right before life was about to change. I arrived back home and pulled out the Bee Gees greatest hits CD I owned -- and there it was, "Fanny" on the album. I ripped the song onto my computer, maybe to put on a mix CD later (I didn't own an iPod yet).

This memory is random, but sometimes when I hear "Fanny," I associate it with Michael's birth. Strangely, I don't think I've heard the song on that station since. It was a chance occurrence that it was played and I heard it right at the moment, late on a Saturday night. 

That was 20 years ago. That kid just turned 20, and I can't believe it. I'm so proud of the person and the adult Michael has become. That night driving home, I'm sure I was nervous about what was impending, not knowing what to expect. For four minutes, a "new" song captured my attention. For the 20 years after, Michael (and then, eventually, Ben) has filled my existence. 

It's all been too fast.