I'm an Uncle?

I was an uncle when I got married. And, I've known Haley since she was born, so that's a nice dimension to have had, marrying into a family I already knew and loved.

But I didn't know *when* Haley was born that I was eventually going to be her Uncle. When i was like 19 or 20, she was just "my friend Stephanie's kid". 19-or-20 year old guys do not think on a very deep level about this sort of thing. "my friend had a kid. *shrug* cool."

So when I got married, I became Husband and Uncle all at once. (Thanks, Haley for breaking me in, and being an easy neice to get used to the idea of Uncledom to.)

But the other day, when little Jhet was born, it was a little different. Maybe because I can talk to Haley & interact & communicate, and I knew about her long before I became her uncle.

Maybe it's just because it's Jordan's son, and I remember when Jordan was born.
Maybe it's because Heather and I have our own addition on the way,

but man. what an overwhelming experience.

I was en route to Winooski, VT when it became official, and I got to talk to Jordan a couple hours afterwards, just before I went on stage. Mom was sending me pictures via phone (long live the digital age, eh?)

it was such a weird realization of like "2 hours ago, that kid was just like my kid, sort of. He was totally a human, but the way the rest of the human race experienced him was 100% expectation. He was like... He existed in future-tense, almost.

And then all of a sudden, he's out, and breathing air, and making noise, and like *present-tense*.

wow.

I think this was the final tipping point of making me 100% excited and ready about March. To see someone else, especially my brother who I have known for literally his whole life, make that transition from future-tense "holy crap what is going to happen" into present-tense "it's okay. it's amazing. he's a human being". I think that makes it all okay for me.

So thanks, Jordan and Lacey, for doing it first. Thanks, Jhet, even though you can't read yet. (right? because if you can, i think i am back to apprehensive about my own parenting skills.)