Twenty-five years ago, I pecked on the glass to get the attention of the veteran nurse. She looked up and smiled. She knew why I was there.
Pointing to my baby girl, I mouthed the words through the glass, “Can I come in and hold her?”
She waved me in, and motioned me toward the only chair in the room – an old oak rocker.
It was a chair, I imagined, many new dads before me had sat in, doing the exact same thing I was about to do: hold my first born for the first time.
I was squirmy and nervous and the chair let out an experienced creak as I shifted in the seat, waiting for my little girl.
I felt like a fish in a tank. Visitors looking at their new babies were also checking me out – smiling, giving me the thumbs-up.
Looking back, it strikes me as fitting that new fathers had to sit in a hard-oak rocking chair instead of a plush La-Z-Boy.
As simple as it seems, it takes effort to make a rocking chair work properly. It requires skill to find the right rhythm.
The same can be said about raising children. No how-to manual popped out when my child was born.
I thought to myself: If this old chair could talk, imagine the stories it could tell. The prayers it has heard. The whispers of hopes and dreams of parents for their children. The deals offered to Heavenly Father.
The nurse rounded the corner and headed my way holding my little bundle. She gently placed Candace in my arms and I began to rock. She was only a few hours old and I was holding her in my arms for the very first time.
As I looked into her eyes, I wondered, what would she become? The possibilities were endless.
I left the hospital that day with a renewed sense of purpose, taking personal inventory and asking: Am I becoming the kind of person that I want to become?
Every new year is like a birth. We are given the opportunity to take a serious look in the mirror. If you don’t like what you see, or you realize that you are not heading in the right direction, you can change.
One way, I believe, is to establish goals in life. And setting goals does not have to be an arduous task.
For me, a goal needs to be specific, attainable, personal, measurable.
The dawn of 2010 is an open book with blank pages waiting to be filled by each of us. I wish each of you good luck in doing so.
•••
Robin L. Quillon is the publisher of The Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown, Pa. Contact him at rquillon@tribdem.com.
Opinion
Like the birth of a baby, a new year brings opportunity
Opinion
- Opinion
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Why not charter schools?
The number of parents choosing to home school their children has risen by 50 percent in the last five years. I believe this is a direct indicator of the frustration parents have in the interference of the federal government in dictating what their children should be taught.
State Representative Brad Montell announced the pre-filing of legislation that, if passed, would establish a charter school initiative in Kentucky. (House Bill BR 117) Kentucky is one of only nine states in the nation that does not have charter schools, helping place Kentucky at number 37 out of 50 states in quality of education.
In charter schools, if educators are performing below standard, they can be terminated, not reassigned or given additional training. Most charter schools are non-union and non-tenured, so an educator knows he/she must perform to a high degree of excellence to retain employment. They can increase their chances of advancement through performance incentives. -
Opinon: Don't Penalize Players for Being Good
Sports are intrinsically amoral.
Not immoral, as in evil. Amoral, as in indifferent to right or wrong.
That is not to say that you can’t do something immoral — something that flies in the face of conventionally accepted ideas of good and bad behavior — while playing sports. Look at Ndamukong Suh, the Detroit Lions defensive tackle who’s expected to be suspended for a game or two for stomping, apparently on purpose, another player during a Thanksgiving game with the Green Bay Packers.
Most Kentucky basketball fans would recall Duke forward Christian Laettner’s infamous stomp on UK’s Aminu Timberlake during the 1992 NCAA College Basketball Tournament, and think he probably deserved a fate similar to Suh’s.
But in and of themselves, there’s nothing morally good or bad about throwing a ball, or kicking a ball, or hitting a puck with a stick, or anything of that nature.
There are only the rules of the game. Break the rules, and the game has a system built in to penalize you for it. -
Road goes back to property owner
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Fool me once...
When putting pen to paper (or fingers to keypad), it is so easy to fall into the trap of wanting to denigrate those with opposing views relating to political beliefs and social issues. I try hard to constantly remind myself that there are two sides to every argument, and each side can be as passionate about their viewpoint as the other. It is tempting to accuse someone of being an idiot if we passionately disagree with them. The term “idiot” is used to describe someone who is weak minded, of low IQ, or incapable of learning. Anyone who reaches the hallowed halls of Congress or the Whitehouse is definitely not an idiot, but they can be misguided. George W. Bush, Yale graduate with a Texas size ego, and Barak Obama, Harvard graduate with a Chicago thug style political background, are two such men. -
What does it maen?
/11. An instantly recognizable reference. One of those references to an event that all United States citizens of a certain age will always recognize. We will always ask, “what were you doing when you heard” and the question will be answered without a second's delay. It was an event that seared itself into our national psyche along with other societal tremors. 9/11 ushered in a new age for the United States and the decade since has brought systemic changes to our society, some for the better, some for the worse. 9/11 revealed in us a willingness to help others at great risk to our own lives and uncovered a fear that we may not be as safe as we thought we were. 9/11 has been used as both reason and excuse for a lot of things, many not very reasonable.
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The day of indelible memories
On a normal day, in my average, everyday, normal life, I would be hard pressed to tell you what I had for dinner the previous day. No, I’m not suffering from dementia or Alzheimer disease. The mind of the average person does not register routine activities as important enough to be a lasting memory. Not so on September 11, 2001. I would venture to say that the majority of the people in America have some indelible memories of what they were doing that day.
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Dana Allen
Dana Michele Allen, age 25, of Somerset, departed this life on Sunday, April 25, 2010 in Lexington, Ky.
- Ruth Morris Ruth Morris, 66, of Somerset, Ky., passed away Friday, April 16, 2010, at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset.
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Betty Lou Payne
Betty Lou Payne, 70, of Somerset, Ky. passed away on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at her home.
- Amidst the Tragedy
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