A New Beginning…

July of 2006 in Sacramento was hot, I mean really hot and I distinctively remember pulling away from our home in the “River City” with the temperature somewhere around 105 degrees while looking forward to the cool 70 degrees promised in the Puget Sound. I remember my son Jack in his infant car seat safely fastened while in his air-conditioned paradise which was the back seat of our perfectly packed family truckster. I still remember taking him home from the hospital and the nurse just letting us walk out the door with him, no handbook, no warranty and no questions, except one. Well it really wasn’t a question as much as it was a test, a badge of honor and most importantly my time to shine and rise above all other first time dads before me. It was what I longed for, to be judged on my first official day on the job. To be graded on my ability to implement the first line of defense and safety for our brand new child, yes, the “infant car seat installation test”. I watched as she surveyed and tugged and then turned and looked at me and said, ” it looks ok, take care.”  That was it? It looks ok? I had spent hours on this task, not reading the manual mind you but simply doing as all men do and putting the pieces together until it fit and worked.  As the nurse vanished I remembered a very dear friend, a seasoned mom with experience and I remember she looked at my installation about a month earlier and told me 7 very important words. “The bubble must be in the middle.” Now let me tell you from the start, the base unit has an indicator bubble much like a carpenters level.  A carpenters level?  Yes, it’s a tool, a tool I’ve used about a million times but for some reason that day back when I began my foray into car seat installation territory I never put two and two together on the fact that this indicator bubble was the difference between my son riding comfortably or inclined so far forward he looked as if he was riding his first roller coaster.  When we reached our destination, my wife exited the back seat of the car having held Jacks head upright the whole drive without a harsh word or comment and I believed at that moment I would either be put on a performance review plan or fired. Neither happened, but I’m pretty sure there was a probation period enacted starting that day that I knew nothing about.

Thank you Meg…..