When I was a college freshman, I was fairly active in dorm life. In the spring of that year I worked with two other people to produce our dorm’s Cabaret Night. The three of us worked hard and began to call the project our baby.
Cabaret Night was a rousing success. All the acts were good and all our dorm residents were happy. My happiness ran over to Sunday morning and I just had to share it. I called home and Dad answered. Here’s a reasonable facsimile of our conversation:
“Hey dad, guess what I did last night!”
“What’d ya do?”
“I had a baby!”
After a beat, “You...what?” Can you hear the slight whistle on the “wh” and the very crisp “t”?
I relented and have him an account of what a glorious night we had. He didn’t have much else to say after that. I’m wishing I was a fly on the wall at home when he hung up the phone.
In retrospect, I knew my delivery was calculated to cause a shock; I just never knew how much of one until I had a child of my own, a girl, who is now a college student herself.
Cabaret Night was a rousing success. All the acts were good and all our dorm residents were happy. My happiness ran over to Sunday morning and I just had to share it. I called home and Dad answered. Here’s a reasonable facsimile of our conversation:
“Hey dad, guess what I did last night!”
“What’d ya do?”
“I had a baby!”
After a beat, “You...what?” Can you hear the slight whistle on the “wh” and the very crisp “t”?
I relented and have him an account of what a glorious night we had. He didn’t have much else to say after that. I’m wishing I was a fly on the wall at home when he hung up the phone.
In retrospect, I knew my delivery was calculated to cause a shock; I just never knew how much of one until I had a child of my own, a girl, who is now a college student herself.
That's funny! I can see the look on Dad's face as he tried to digest your statement!
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