End of the line, folks. Tom’s last little bit is below. Thanks again for reading about my darling little girl’s arrival and for all of the encouragement.
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So, dear friends and hippies of all decades, I have become that guy: the one who talks about his homebirth experience. How it was a spiritually-enlightening, eye-opening, No way! kind of experience. After re-reading this, I realize that I expend a lot of effort at not being certain things, rather than unabashedly letting my flag fly for the outlandish and marvelous things I do believe in and love. I imagine this outlandish and marvelous little girl will help me do just that.
Aside from my little girl’s birth, I should mention something else significant that happened a few weeks ago. I became Dad. Not a Dad, just “Dad.”
I always thought “Daddy” was far too precious and even tried to get Rocco to just stick with those first three letters when he first started muttering, “Da!”, but I eventually—and happily—learned to accept my full term of endearment.
Although this dad finally got what he wanted, he’s secretly looking forward to once again hearing “Daddy?!” from the lips of someone on tiptoes reaching for a countertop prize or, more likely, hoping to receive a sentencing pardon from their bunk.
As I write this, I’m sitting on the back porch of a friend’s beach house—close enough that I could easily (and happily) toss this computer into the lazy tide of the Puget Sound—while my best shot at Daddy v.2 practices her abilities to summon a Big Person with yells, screams and squalls from inside.
I’m going to go inside now and teach her that calling my name, in any form, will work every time. And despite being far-less equipped than Mom (anatomically or emotionally) to satisfy her needs, I’m going to remind her that, unlike Mom, I lead the best adventures, cook a tastier breakfast and make the finest pillow forts in all the land.
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Till the Wheels Come Off 
What a delight this has been (and will continue to be). My only bone to pick is the same one I have with my other favorite authors: Noooooooooo! I CAN”T be done with this book: one more night and it’s over! What’s the next one in the series? Is there a trilogy? A sequel? Anything? More!
Comment by jayhallstrom September 6, 2012 @ 11:42 amHoly moly that was a beautiful birth story! Tommy you are such a beautiful writer! And Katie, I’m in awe of your super powers.
We were in fact in town briefly and had managed to pack in 2 Mariners Games and 2 days of Ellensburg Rodeo in a very short time. Ugh, we are back home and very exhausted. We so wish we had an opportunity to see you all!! Because of the recent burglary and near home-invasion, we didn’t want to announce our trip to Seattle on Facebook since many of our neighbors are Facebook friends of mine.
Please give those scrumptious cheeks of Ravenna’s kisses for me! Love you Tom, Kate, Rocco & Ravenna!
Comment by Kimberly Keith September 6, 2012 @ 2:05 pmAmazing story!! Thanks for sharing guys. You are a gifted writer Tom!! Hugs and congrats to all!!
Comment by Kristi Crum September 8, 2012 @ 11:32 pm