So here we are, that much closer to “the day” than the last post, which promised more “catching up”. By “closer”, I mean 3 days past our due date.

Casey, your due date was 4/22/08, and much like most babies, you’ve chosen to stay put inside of your mother’s abdomen for the time being: perhaps due to the comfort inherent in the warmth, but more likely due to (as the books say) the lack of a hormone that gets released when your lungs are ready to breathe for the first time.

While we wait, it seems prudent to continue discussing the recent goings on.

April was “Shower” month. Multiple showers, actually. Of course, by “shower” we refer specifically “baby showers”, though I suppose to an extent the use of the term is somewhat loose. To an extent.

Also, Casey, I have to own up to the fact that I technically wasn’t at one of them. See, “showers” are not normally attended by men, at least traditionally. So, one of these days, I’m sure your mother may like to explain what exactly happened at that particular shower.

The gist of it, as I understand it, were that various generations of women from both sides of our families (along with those of her cousin Taji who was due at about the same date) convened at her grandmother’s house, to pass along presents, wisdom, and perhaps play that game where people try to guess whether or not the smeared mess in a diaper was some form of defecation or mayhap a candybar (and if so, which kind).

That’s all that I can assume, of course.

In the mean time, we also had two other “showers”. The first (which actually happened second, chronologically), was with the San Francisco Karaoke Mafia. That’s right, among all of the horridly embarrassing things that your parents will manage to frighten you with, we do in fact do karaoke. If, by the time you grow up, karaoke does not exist anymore (God forbid) : karaoke is what happens when a group of people feel the need to impersonate their favorite musical artists, set to bad synthesized “MIDI” instrumentation (it occurs to me now that you may not know what MIDI is when you grow up). To embarrass you further, your mother and I met during such an occasion. In fact, up until basically a few scant weeks until you were born, we went to sing on a regular basis, and you would kick at some of the hipster songs I would sing: the ones with a distinctly “disco” disco hi-hat.

Nonetheless, the Karaoke Mafia decided to throw a shower at the Lingba Lounge, where you were surrounded by friends and what may very well become your second, slightly crazier, family, bearing gifts and guessing when you’ll be born. In case you were curious, the day I guessed (April 25th), is the day I wrote this post and you seem to be pretty obstinate in staying in your mother (like a typical Taurus). I don’t know that your mother guessed a date, though it’s safe to guess that at least on the 25th that she was hoping it was earlier in the month.

The last shower was not even remotely a shower: it was in fact our housewarming party for the apartment referenced in the previous post. It was not a shower, but a gathering of friends, many of which had asked if we were throwing a shower, so we made mention of our registry at Babies ‘R Us. Your parent’s friends the trek to the outer, outer, outer Richmond to wish us the best in our new home and to greet you. There were drinks, way too much food, loud music, and for some reason, Nintendo Wii bowling. I think it’s fair to say you will have no idea what a Wii is when you grow up.

Anyway, it’s clear that you’re already loved. Everyone was super generous, and believe you me, you will be stylishly dressed (probably more so than your parents). Undoubtedly, this blog will be chock full of pictures of you in various adorable shirts, spiffy sweaters, and jeans cut to flatter your little baby legs.

Now all we need to proceed down that path is for you to actually come out…

-oz

Categories: towards the end
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The things that Casey doesn’t know.

At this point a variety of things have happened that have shaped her life in some way.  There’s almost too much to talk about in one post so I think I’m going to break this down bit by bit so that way, when we read this to her at a later time, she understands the things that shaped her circumstance shortly before her birth.

Back in “the last post”,  we were still in the Fell apartment.  This is to say, we had not yet received our Christmas present from our property management company, Pacific Equity.  On Dec. 27th, we received it - a notice telling us that the building was being shut down via the “Ellis Act”, which is essentially a landlord / owner’s only recourse in getting rid of tenants who may be paying what they feel is under market value for their property.  The flip side is that, in theory, the building must be free of tenancy for about 5 years.

That’s neither here nor there, though.  The real story to tell you here, Casey, is that we had spent a good 2 or so months of our pregnancy with you in an apartment I had spent 5 years of my adult life in, and was looking forward to introducing you to, and we were told we had to leave within 120 days.  The problem there, of course, is that put us essentially right at your due date.

So we did what any good parents would do:  we freaked the hell out, and we looked desperately for a new place.  San Francisco is full of highly overpriced slums, so very shortly after our first month of investigation we felt entirely hopeless.  My friend Jing mentioned a Realtor named Abigail though, that was able to help us find the place we would eventually move to.

Of course, when we first tried to get it, we were denied - another couple had gotten to it first and were given “dibs” of sorts.  Despondent, Lesli and I continued our search and were met once again with only the dregs of the city.  Then we received the call.

Turns out that first couple didn’t turn in their deposit checks or even call to confirm they wanted the place.  Abigail “called an audible” (a football term, sweetie) and called us and let us know that the place is ours if we want it.

What I haven’t mentioned is the place is literally at the edge of the city by Ocean Beach.  This is both a good and a bad thing - the old place was in Lower Haight - a great neighborhood for people in their 20s and 30s like your mother and I, but not so much of an ideal place for a small little infant such as yourself.  The problem though is that this location is far - from a public transportation point of view, it would take less time to come in from Oakland to my office location Downtown.

Lesli gave me an option, knowing this - we can pass on the place or go ahead and get it, but we should make the call soon.  I considered waiting until the next day but after further consideration it seemed like a good idea to simply take the place:  no other showed as much promise.

We took the place, and gave our security deposit the next day.  20 minutes after we gave ours and received a receipt for it, the other couple came in with one of their own.  By sheer luck of timing, we had found our new home (and yours, too).

So, we moved in.  Now let me inform you of one little fact, Casey:  there is absolutely nothing fun about being as pregnant as your mom was in March, and having to move in to a new home.  Really, truly.  Nothing.  We had hoped we wouldn’t have had to move, but it we were not so lucky.

A few weeks later the apartment was completely reconfigured for you to be here, and lo - you will spend the first few years of your life in this new home near the beach.  We’ll take you out to the ocean, we’ll lead you through the park, and show you the good San Francisco has to offer you, and you’ll probably remember some of it but not all.  We’ll take pictures and we’ll show you our little sojourns, though.  We’ll show you the neighborhood you almost grew up in.  Hopefully you’ll like this one just fine, though, and appreciate the quiet and the ocean.

Categories: towards the end
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