I walked out the front door to go to work an hour away, leaving behind my wife who had just entered early labor. Thinking that it was probably a false alarm, I told her to call me if anything changed. Right as I walked into the office, I got the call, and had to drive all the way back. By 6:30 that evening, I was a new father. Happiest day of my life.

Cecelia was born via emergency C-section. In the O.R., I had hunkered down at Louise’s head behind the sheet that obstructed our view of the operation. After a few minutes, the doctor announced that the baby was about to come out, and asked if I wanted to watch. I started to stand, but Louise, afraid I’d pass out, urged me to stay down. In the next half second I thought, “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this for the world!”, and I stood up just in time to see her emerge. It was glorious.

And just in time for her birthday today, “Happy Birthday” is now in the public domain.