3.7 Alex Markham Day of Remembrance

The day Wade was brought into the embrace of a midwestern summer will always be significant to my family, as it was the last day of actually recorded silence in the Markham Household. For me, the 23rd of August will always be the day my youngest child was born and knowing that our family had just become complete.
The tension was almost nonexistent during the drive to labor and delivery because unlike our firstborn, we were prepared and had the benefit of experience on our side. We knew what to look for and how to prepare and Melanie was on top of it. As a trucker at the time, I was often on the road and felt almost helpless as there was little for me to actually do besides make sure there was money in the account, keep the woodstove fired, and food in the fridge. Everything felt mundane until we had to go to the car.
I was hit with a literal bolt of realization that made me happily comfortable that I was about to finish with a chapter of my life and I became eager to read more of this story. The drive up felt longer than it was. Fifteen minutes from our driveway to the labor and delivery in Menomonie. We knew
 full well this was going to go smoother than our first but the anxious anticipation of what was to come kept us on our toes.
It was a sobering moment, to say the least, and while we were anxious with anticipation, there was fear in the car.  With our oldest secure with Melanie's parents, we set out to bring Wade into the world. The adrenaline rush was short-lived and when the doctor handed me my ten-pound son which took all my confidence and shattered it into a thousand shards of glass. This really was happening! I had never really been one for believing in fate or foreseeing things, but this was different. I was literally seeing the lines in my life running together now. Almost as if traveling in a tunnel that had opened into a vastly larger expanse with so many moving parts.
For my wife, the process was more simple to have a scheduled C section as opposed to needing an emergency C section with Tristan. The timing was what made it the most memorable day of my life.
We had time to process what was going to happen and to take it all in and breathe easy. At 10:47 we were checked into the loudest craziest adventure yet, parents of two little mini-humans!
Life hasn't slowed down any since then and I hope it never does. This path is a curious and explorative one and I don't want to miss any of it.