Fun Deck

There is a famous anecdote in the Cornett family about my father, Danel. As the story goes, he quit his job both times he found out that my mother was pregnant. I am undergoing some similar changes as the baby patiently waits for his birthday.


We've been calling the boy Jeep. This is partly because he is very active, and partly because we like the name. Of course, you can't name your baby Jeep. But you can CALL HIM Jeep all you want. Jeep's imminent arrival has stirred some strange emotions in his father.


One, I bought a canoe. I feel very strongly that this move was somehow attached to fatherhood and freedom, the promise of floating through a sunny afternoon, and the halcyon of family life. I bought it used, from a nice couple in Woodland. It is a fiberglass hulled Clipper Tripper 'S', and of course I love it.

We took it on its inaugural voyage yesterday. By all accounts, it performed well. The pregnant Momma was her usual powerhouse in the bow, as we tooled around Sturgeon Lake on Sauvie Island. I managed to throw our camera in the water as we were unloading, but (bless her pregnant belly) she was quick enough to grab it before the damage could be done.

I have also been playing a lot of golf. My scores are dropping, consistently below 100 for the first time in my life. I am trying to take this in stride, and recognize that I may have to give this up after Jeep arrives.

Finally, I started remodeling the laundry room. I just couldn't bear to look at the old cracked tile and nasty galvanized piping running through the center of the room any more. For the past two weeks I have been destroying and slowly replacing the plumbing, the laundry, and the floors. I just couldn't stand the thought of walking to the nursery past the grimmest room in the house.

Of course, all of this seems to point to my own mania, insecurity, and general inability to sit still. Linden has been very nice about all of it. Sixteen more days until the DUE DATE. I will keep my nose to the grindstone. Between running, cooking, cleaning, giving shoulder rubs, winning at backgammon, losing at tennise, and remodeling the house, I'm sure I'll figure out the secrets of fatherhood somehow.