For Harley: The digital photo album

My wife and I are expecting our daughter Harley in July sometime and there isn’t a feeling in the world that can compare to your first child being born. I remember when I was younger, my parents would cart around the camcorder (which was the same size as a vacuum cleaner) and video my brothers and sister playing in the backyard or in the snow forts we would spend hours building together. I look back on those memories and hope that when my daughter is old enough to appreciate the videos I compiled for her, will she make fun of my iPhone camera?

When my wife and I first found out that we were going to have a child I immediately thought I was going to have a boy. I was already planning out Halloween and what costume I would dress him up in. I imagined movie night filled with Star Wars Marathons and backyard projects with the family tree fort. This was going to be my son and we were going to have the best team since Will and Jaden.

When I found out that I was having a little girl, I didn’t get weepy and disappointed that I wasn’t going to have a son. I thought about all of the cool things I was going to do with my little girl. I thought about the cool things that I could do to give her special memories when she had grown older. I thought about creating a comic book with her image as the main character; fighting baby criminals and solving stolen cookie crimes. Later on as she grew up, I would put together her life as if it were a progressing action story that only a comic book nerd father could establish. I regularly think that she will one day post on Facebook that her old man is too much of a geek, but we can cross that bridge later.

In all seriousness though, I found that there are a variety of ways to give a child fond memories of their childhood with digital art or heartwarming sentiment in the form of a blog. I get choked up every time I see that commercial where the dad emails her daughter over the years and think, “Can I ever be that clever?”