Odds Are, This is Awesome
Dear Marshall & Maggie,
As I write this, we have finally made it, and both of you are home. It has been a crazy, amazing, wild first few nights to start this chapter of our life. Due to the serious lack of sleep I have received, I have had a lot of time to do some extra thinking, such as how we got here, with me a husband and a father to our family. In fact, when I think about all the things that did (or didn't) change, the odds that this actually happened, are pretty overwhelming.
You may be tempted to go through life as if it is a series of items on a checklist that you cross off. Graduate high school, check. College, check. Get a good job, check. Meet a nice woman/man and settle down, get a nice house, pop out a few kids, check, check, check. These milestones are all a big deal, and this list won't be like the one I get crossed off each time we go to Wal Mart. Sorry, life is much more complex than that.
It has always bothered me to hear people say that there is no such thing as fate or destiny. For example, your mother and I are both from a small town, and we were high school sweethearts. You may think that we met each other, got along, and decided to go ahead and settle down and have a nice family. Maybe you think that the odds that we actually met our soulmate at the tiny Marissa, IL high school are crazy. Well, they are crazy. And if you think that we (eventually) got together and decided to permanently stick it out, and then had you two amazing kiddos, the odds become as believable as Donald Trump's toupee.
I won't dig back too far into the family tree for this, but keep in mind that we all came from somewhere. So let's work backwards. Your Mom and I met, in a small town, and ended up together. (for the record, there is a roughly 2% chance we would get married, I have the math if you want it). Go back a generation, and my parents had to get together and raise me, and the same for your mom. Back another generation, and my grandparents and your Mom's had to get together, and so on and so forth. The chances are down to a trillionth percent that it would all come together to eventually lead to your birth, kind of like the odds that the neighbor's dog will suddenly be trained and stop crapping in our yard.
Generations of our ancestors had to come from wherever they started in the world, and end up in a small town in Southern Illinois in the U.S. of A., and meet other ancestors who came along the same path and ended up there too. This all eventually trickled down to us, and we had you. So it was a process thousands of years in motion, and specific people and things had to happen in order to get where we are today. I even took part in this planning, so cut me some slack whenever I forget to plan dinner.
Beyond the big picture things that had to happen to get us in the position today, a million things had to happen just in my life in order to get to you. Each crummy job where I sold or cleaned things that I would rather not speak of again, or my delayed college career, or places I lived (or chose not to live in), and even turns or stoplights I was able to miss or make, all had to line up perfect to get where we are today. If I had sat on the can a little too long, or gotten off too soon, I could have missed some critical interaction along the way that got us all here. So stop beating on the door while I am in the bathroom, Marshall. (Or I guess do beat on it sometimes?)
With the road leading to where we are today being so unlikely, and the odds so against it, it has to be more than just a coincidence. There was only one person I was supposed to end up with, just I am meant to be your Dad. Things have turned out the way they were supposed to, because no matter what happened, it all played out in the exact sequence that got us here, like one of those complicated dominoes set-ups.
Just like a cheesy medical drama show, everything I have talked about up to now leads to a decisive conclusion. In this case, the conclusion is that there is only one way that this all could have worked out, so I suppose that makes it Destiny. Everything had to align absolutely perfect for me to wake up yesterday with a stinky diaper in my face. And, I couldn't be more thankful for the way things have turned out, exactly as they were supposed to.
Love,
Dad
As I write this, we have finally made it, and both of you are home. It has been a crazy, amazing, wild first few nights to start this chapter of our life. Due to the serious lack of sleep I have received, I have had a lot of time to do some extra thinking, such as how we got here, with me a husband and a father to our family. In fact, when I think about all the things that did (or didn't) change, the odds that this actually happened, are pretty overwhelming.
It has always bothered me to hear people say that there is no such thing as fate or destiny. For example, your mother and I are both from a small town, and we were high school sweethearts. You may think that we met each other, got along, and decided to go ahead and settle down and have a nice family. Maybe you think that the odds that we actually met our soulmate at the tiny Marissa, IL high school are crazy. Well, they are crazy. And if you think that we (eventually) got together and decided to permanently stick it out, and then had you two amazing kiddos, the odds become as believable as Donald Trump's toupee.
I won't dig back too far into the family tree for this, but keep in mind that we all came from somewhere. So let's work backwards. Your Mom and I met, in a small town, and ended up together. (for the record, there is a roughly 2% chance we would get married, I have the math if you want it). Go back a generation, and my parents had to get together and raise me, and the same for your mom. Back another generation, and my grandparents and your Mom's had to get together, and so on and so forth. The chances are down to a trillionth percent that it would all come together to eventually lead to your birth, kind of like the odds that the neighbor's dog will suddenly be trained and stop crapping in our yard.
Generations of our ancestors had to come from wherever they started in the world, and end up in a small town in Southern Illinois in the U.S. of A., and meet other ancestors who came along the same path and ended up there too. This all eventually trickled down to us, and we had you. So it was a process thousands of years in motion, and specific people and things had to happen in order to get where we are today. I even took part in this planning, so cut me some slack whenever I forget to plan dinner.
Just like a cheesy medical drama show, everything I have talked about up to now leads to a decisive conclusion. In this case, the conclusion is that there is only one way that this all could have worked out, so I suppose that makes it Destiny. Everything had to align absolutely perfect for me to wake up yesterday with a stinky diaper in my face. And, I couldn't be more thankful for the way things have turned out, exactly as they were supposed to.
Dad
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