These are the Times

I'm smack dab in the middle of one of those rare, quiet moments of pure contentment.  It's the kind of moment that doesn't come along often enough, one I wish I could save somewhere close to my heart and conjure up when things aren't as peaceful.

I'm sitting in my camping chair on the front porch, in the dark, listening to the drone of crickets and the nearby sound of traffic on the side streets and, farther away, the interstate.  The soft, indistinct murmur of voices from my next door neighbor's house drifts through the hedges separating our houses.  It's incredibly pleasant outside tonight, 63 degrees with not a hint of a breeze.  I'm sipping a glass of wine after a strong 4 mile run through the neighborhood.

Jude and I returned home this afternoon from our annual fall weekend in Las Vegas with "the Foodbrothers" - a few of her college friends and assorted others who we meet there every year to watch and bet on college football games.  We missed J.P. terribly, but it was nice for the two of us to get away for the weekend.  When we got home, he was just up from his nap and really excited to see us.  It's crazy,  but we both remarked that it seemed like he had gotten taller since we left three days ago.

Jude looks more beautiful than ever.  Pregnancy really becomes her, as she just seems to radiate a sense of happiness, or something else I can't quite put my finger on.  The 20-week ultrasound is Tuesday, which is big.  That's when we find out the sex of the baby and, hopefully, learn that everything is on target and looks good for a healthy baby.  On my run tonight, as I do most nights when I go for a run, I stopped by Christ the King (a Catholic church on Belmont Boulevard) and said a quick prayer at the statue of the Virgin Mary, asking for blessing and good health for our unborn child and for J.P., as well.

So much of what we're going through is about faith, for me at least.  Faith that Jude and our baby will be healthy.  Faith that we'll be able to handle two children, as opposed to one.  Faith that J.P. will adjust to having a brother or sister.  Faith that I'll figure out how to love a new child as much as I love J.P.  Faith that I can be the father I need to be to both children and the husband Jude needs me to be.  Faith that God has a plan and that everything will be all right.  Faith.

That's all for now.  I hear a train in the distance, horn blowing as it travels through my city.  Now, I hear a jet overhead, as it travels over my city.  I think I'm going to sit on my front porch, finish my wine and listen to the sounds of the city.  Then, I'm going to go upstairs, check on J.P. and climb in bed next to my  pregnant wife.  It doesn't get much better than that, does it?