Hazel Grace King is the newest, brightest, cutest, most very best addition to the King family! She was born March 8 at 4:54am, weighing 7.3 pounds and is smack in the middle percentile at 19.5 inches tall.

There are, of course, a million emotions I experienced as tears are streaming down my face witnessing this miracle happen, but what’s struck me most is the sensation of entering dad club. And perhaps that sounds hokey or corny or just plain odd, but it’s like you don’t know until you know. Just like that, I’m holding this tiny little perfect miniature human being and it was right then that I knew.

Somehow after 36 years of my being on this planet and growing fairly independent along the way. Then in the blink of an eye, my entire worldview changed and at the drop of a hat or tiniest squeal she makes, I’ll do anything in the world to keep my daughter happy. Here’s a tiny girl who uses her entire hand to grasp the final knuckle of my finger. The meaning of the word dependent has taken an entirely new meaning.

Laura and I can’t help but feel incredibly blessed. Hazel is happy and healthy and she’s become the root of our happiness. Then there’s all the other stuff for which we’re grateful. Sure, there were trying times, but overall Laura’s pregnancy went quite smoothly and without incident. How we had a casual, unrushed trip to the hospital wrapping up a nice Saturday morning where “something doesn’t feel normal, maybe we should go to the hospital”. That was smooth sailing. The team of doctors, nurses, our doula, and everyone else we’ve come across through the entire long weekend at the UVM Medical Center has been the epitome of support.

Plus now how quickly we’re adapting to home life is a blessing too. Take that with the tiniest grain of salt — I joke that Hazel is lunar powered. She sleeps, umm… like a baby for nearly every minute the sun is up, but when we’re then exhausted and then sun dips down past the horizon, she’s wound up and ready to party! Or wail.

It’s amid snuggling with our bundle of joy that we live in some very trying times. Coronavirus is at the front of everyone’s mind right now. A single death from this virus is too many and now just two months after the term first hit the public’s radar, it’s killed thousands. The ramifications are going to be vast and it’s paralyzing to see how slowly we’re reacting. Italy is a “war zone”, China is taking draconian measures to mitigate the spread, and the US is late to the game to recognize what the repercussions will be.

For no reason in particular, I don’t share my political beliefs publicly. Probably more than anything, it’s because we live in such an unfortunate age where everything is partisan. Every opinion or statement is somehow misconstrued to be black or white, my side or yours, right or wrong. I DO think our president is a complete whack job and anyone who would ramble on with these statements in public surrounded by the very people who have dedicated their lives to studying disease is not befitting of the presidency. If you disagree, you are welcome to your opinion, buuuut it’s because we live in such an unfortunate age where everything is partisan. Every opinion or statement is somehow misconstrued to be black or white, my side or yours, right or wrong. But that’s neither here nor there.

It’s a times likes these I try to find the most data driven information that I can and I was recently directed to a podcast episode that I think the entire world would be in a healthier frame of mind if we all listened to… even if it is scary. The risk versus reward of taking precautions are staggering with now an estimated few hundred thousand or perhaps beyond a million Americans who will be killed from this disease.

The economy is suffering tremendously and the risk for a global recession looms large. Sure, we see it in the suffering stock market, but think beyond that of the brick and mortar shops, the mom and pop stores, the restaurants and coffee shops that rely on “business as usual”. I think we need to be aware of the fact that we’re perhaps on the doorstep of a new norm.

It’s also at times like this that we go back to count our blessings. Laura and I are beyond grateful to be home, to have Hazel with us safe and sound and with the ability to hunker down as necessary with jobs and lives that allow us to be fluid. We’re thankful for our family, friends, and supporters. We’re also thankful for the little luxuries of life that add a spark of light to the day, like avocado toast.