Moms and Dads

I'm excited, but it's very strange to consider that Dana and I will soon be Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad were always just "there", forever and always, and they seemed to know what they were doing the whole while, from the get-go.

I certainly don't have that confidence yet. But people have told me that it's a cinch.

I have a business trip to Beijing, China coming up at the end of March or beginning of April. I am totally jazzed about the prospect of going to China, but the timing could have been better, to say the least. In the past couple of years I have made a point of bringing Dana along on all of my major business trips where she was able to get the time off work. We went to New Zealand and France together, and they were great trips. In both cases we were able to take almost an extra week to see the sights and travel around a bit outside of work, and while I was working Dana was able to have some fun on her own.

So this trip to China will be without Dana, since baby boy will be too little to travel, and it will be too soon after the birth. Fortunately, we should be able to import some company for Dana in the form of friends or parents for the week I'll be away.

I just don't know what I'm going to do on my own in China. I have come to depend on Dana for direction, literally and figuratively.