15 years ago today, it was just the bride and me. 15 years ago tomorrow, we became parents. We went from a couple to a family, just like that. We left for the hospital at about 5:40 AM, and Megan Lindsay Stapleton was born at 1:21 PM. The Billy Joel song "She's Got A Way" was playing when she came into this world. (In fact, there was a Billy Joel song playing on the radio with both girls; Sara's was "She's Always A Woman.")
That summer was very hot, but the day we brought Meg home was the hottest day of the year. It was July 4, 1990, and the temperature was 104. We lived in a house that didn't have central air conditioning, so the room temperature varied from room to room because not every room had a window air conditioner.
Looking back on old pictures, I realize that the reason we always felt so broke was because we actually were. We chose for Susie to stay home with the girls. And even though money was tight, we feel like we made the right decision. I was actually accused of being a male chauvinist because we made the decision for the bride to stay home with our girls rather than pursue a career outside the home. It was told to me that I was "forcing" her to stay home, but here's how it really happened:
When Meg was about 6 weeks old, we started looking around for daycare options. We "knew" we'd never be able to make it on one salary, and the bride was due for a substatial promotion and pay raise when she returned from maternity leave. We first ruled out the standard day care. Our pediatrician told us that if Meg were to be in daycare with several other kids, we would be visiting him between 8-12 times over the next year; if she stayed home, he'd see us 4 times over the next 12 months. So we decided to look for someone who kept just a couple of kids in their home. After looking around, we found a lady at church who had an opening in her home. We set up an appointment and met with her during our lunch hours one day. Everything seemed to be great - great location, nice lady, good environment, etc. We got in the car and about half-way back the bride started crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "I can't leave her. I just can't go back to work and leave Meg." I won't lie - I panicked at first. Insurance was going to cost me an additional $575 a month, and I knew I didn't have that. However, I had a great boss at the time. I came back and told him the situation. He said the company take care of the insurance cost for us. Just like that! That was a huge blessing that I never took for granted.
The bride later went on to work in a mother's day out at a local church. She never made huge money, but it was always just enough to help us make ends meet.
I think we took dozens and dozens of rolls of pictures of Meg her first year. Some of them I'll post later. Looking at them now, it's like we took them one after another. One picture she'd be in her crib laying down, the next one she would have moved 1/4 inch from 3 seconds before. Lots of duplicates. (This was before digital photography, so we had to get them all developed.)
Being a dad was new, but I loved it. The first time I ever babysat alone, Meg and I watched the MLB all star game. She was only a couple of weeks old, so she didn't pay too much attention to the game.
As I've mentioned before, Meg's been a compliant child. She didn't do things like write on the walls with crayons or anything similar. But there was one time that she did something a little out of character.
When she was about 5, Meg brought the phone to the bride. The bride was feeding a bottle to Sara when Meg said, "Here, Mom, this lady wants to talk to you." She couldn't remember hearing the phone ring, but she just figured she missed it. She picked up and the lady on the other end said that she just needed to verify some information. The lady proceeded to confirm our address and phone number, along with some other information. The bride said, "Uh, could you tell me what this is for?" The lady stated that Meg had just ordered bottled water delivery for our home. The bride said, "Do you realize you were talking to a 5-year-old?" The lady said, "Really? Well, she certainly doesn't sound it!" Either the bottled water lady was ignorant or she was hard up to sell some water. We later learned that Meg had seen a commercial about bottled water, copied the toll-free number down in crayon, then placed the call. We had to have a little talk about calling phone numbers from television.
I'm proud of Meg. Not only because she's my daughter, but also for who she is as a person. She loves people, and people love being around her. She has a tender heart, and she's brought the bride and me all kinds of joy over the past 15 years. And we can't wait to see what God has in store for her for the rest of her life! Meg will have alot of big events over the next few years - learners permit and drivers license, high school graduation, college, etc. I'm just glad I've got a front-row seat to see it all happen.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEG! WE LOVE YOU!
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