Happy Birthday Maggie! (Late, I know, the actual day was 4/20) My daughter and first born is now 8-years old, super sweet, and learning – every day – better tactics on how she can butter up dad. I gave her an MP3 player (she must keep it in her room for now) and an iDog speaker thingie to play it. She got the obligatory Hannah Montana games, Super Smash Bros. (we’ve already had a few battle royales hereabouts), clothes and some stuff from The Littlest Petshop. See? 8 is where the little girl meets the tween and they eye each other nervously. To celebrate, lets go back in time to the day it all began.

Origin Story

 Once, almost five years ago, I was just a Gamer.  I remember it clearly, it was early September 1999 and I got a strange phone call from my wife. She was calling from Michigan, where she was visiting her sister. I was a wreck, completing my first Strategy Book for Prima Publishing had just about killed me. I’m talking 80 hour weeks. I was on the home stretch so her call wasn’t welcome. I was on deadline, nearing the end, and I knew she’d be home later. Why call? I’ll see you soon!  I have to finish! 

I can only remember two phrases from that conversation. They were:
“I missed my periodﾅ” and “feeling queasy all the time”

She probably said more but I’m ashamed to admit that my priority was getting the damn book done. I must have said the right things because she sounded less frantic by the end of the call and she told me she would pick up a couple EPT devices on the way home. I told her to drive safe, told her I loved her, and then pretty much forgot the whole thing in a stream of words about how to navigate the rigging in a giant medieval balloon when beset by monsters. You know, important stuff.

I was finished with the book by the time she got home. Suddenly the memory and gravity of what she’d told me hit me like a punch in the gut. Period – missed? Queasy – feeling? EPT – test? We embraced and she was off to the bathroom to, y’know, pee on the devices. She came out after about 5 minutes looking a little pale and tired, which indicated to me she already had the results and they were what? What did “pale and tired” mean?

Did they mean Baby?!
-or-
Did they mean no Baby?

I didn’t know how I felt about either proposition but I started fearing she thought it was bad news – whatever the news was. Was “baby” bad news? We weren’t ready, she was still in school! Was “No baby” bad news? We could handle it, we just bought a house. We knew we wanted a family! I lamely tried to comfort her:

“At least we have the house already,” I said. “Oh, and, I finished the book. That’ll be a big paycheck. How much do babies cost?”

She smiled and told me she didn’t know. She also didn’t have the results yet. Pale  and tired, y’see, meant “I drove far and now I have to pee on pregnancy tests!”  We waited in silence, both of us asking questions to ourselves. Stuff like: Are we ready? Do we have the money? We weren’t trying, how did this happen? That sort of thing.

15 minutes passed so Linda silently padded to the bathroom to get the tests.

There were plus signs on both tests.

That meant: “Baby.”

“Let’s buy more tests,” I said in a hollow voice – hollow from shock. Joy hadn’t arrived yet and disappointment, I’m proud to say, was a no show.

Linda shook her head no.

We embraced because it seemed like the right thing to do. I kissed her because, well, that always seems like the right thing to do. We parted and sat down. I offered her a beer or some wine (my head was thinking whiskey) and I had another sucker-punch of reality. No booze for the young mother!

Linda was a young mother. Which meant . . .

I’m a young father?

Here we were, both of us 29 years old. Why did we feel too young for this? There were people who had 10 year-olds at 29! Does every parent feel that way when news of their first born arrives?

Then, maybe 3 minutes later, I grabbed her hand, looked into her eyes, and said: “I love you.” We realized that the worry wasn’t going to go away (it crossed my mind that worry would soon take on an entirely new meaning) but the fear would. Then came the happiness.

Eight months later, Maggie arrived and I became a daddy.

GamerDad Family Cast List
Andrew S. Bub – Dad
Linda Denison Bub – Mom
Maggie Denison Bub – Daughter
Henry Michael Bub – Son
Bubbles Bub – GamerHound

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