In Their Own Words: The Daddy's Perspective

Perspective: BD’s thoughts and Ramblings

Flashback Freaky Friday

Happy Halloween, everybody! Trouble is brewing because on this Freaky Friday Chrystal and I have switched places. So today I’m blogging and she’s watching football…ok she’s probably not watching football, but she should be!

I’m not much of an expressing-my-feelings type person so I’m just going to throw out my random thoughts here on the blogosphere and organize them to give you a little insight to our lives from BD’s side of the fence.

Let’s begin with what it’s like to be me. It’s great - I love my life. I have 2 wonderful girls in my life that I love more than anything (except maybe football). We have fun, but it can also be challenging (see men’s dictionary for definition of father and husband).



Chrystal and I are different in the way we express ourselves. She is very outspoken while I am very inside myself - a silent giant if you will. I’m not inside myself like a great philosopher or anything, but there are times when I’m thinking to myself, challenging myself, fixing things in my head and trying to correct things before they go wrong.

Which brings me to Malea’s diagnosis. When we were given the news I was sad, but at the same time happy. I didn’t know much about Ds, but I knew that there are people with Ds who are doing well in our society. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and that one of the bigger challenges would be dealing with other people, but I’ve never really been one for caring about what other people thought or did.



I realized a big challenge laid ahead, but I’m a big picture kind of guy, so, although I realized there were going to be a lot of difficult things for our family to overcome due to our daughter’s designer genes, in the grand scheme of things she’s healthy and we can work the rest out as we ride along. Don’t get me wrong, I was bothered, but I learned this motto early in my life that I always try to live by:

Never let anything without a heart beat you!

This motto couldn’t apply to Ds though. I am a person who has always THRIVED on winning. It was hard for me to deal with the diagnosis because I kept looking at it from the perspective of "How do we beat this thing and make it go away?" After lots of thinking (inside myself), I realized that Malea’s diagnosis wasn’t meant to be a challenge to be beaten. Instead, in itself, it presented smaller challenges that would need to be beaten. Once I came to this realization I was relieved and began to thrive again, this time on taking down the challenges that Ds presented. It allowed me to become more focused and that’s a good thing!



Enough about that, let’s talk about the Malea!! She’s awesome. When I wake up in the morning I usually go to get her out of her crib and I can’t wait to see her smile, although that smile usually doesn’t come until after there has been a diaper change and a feeding. We have great conversations where I’m sure she’s telling Chrystal and I all the things we’re doing wrong (good thing we don’t understand baby speak yet) and she makes the best play pal ever. Although half the time I end up wondering how I ended up on the floor…again! Sleepy time is the best though. When she’s lying there in my arms yawning, eye rubbing, and shifting around to get comfy I get all weak. There’s nothing better in the world than watching her sleep in my arms.



My final thoughts, hmmm, well my life is pretty close to perfect. Navy football is doing all right, Texas football is right were I want them to be (Beat TT!!). Oh yeah and I have a wonderful wife whose passion and love for her family motivates me to try and get better every day. She is smart, beautiful and the love of my life. I enjoy running/jogging/walking/standing through life with her. And then there is Malea who is just so damn lovable and fun to watch as she grows up and develops more of her personality. She has fun and continues to show Chrystal and I that it’s all about having fun.



Remember to have fun!

And go scare someone…BOO!