Yesterday, Kathy & I brought home our new baby boy, ZBL. He was born on Tuesday at Stanford Hospital — he and Kathy are both doing super well, and SPL is excited to be a big brother.
What I wanted to write about this morning is optimism. The act of bringing home a new baby is such an incredible act of optimism. It’s just impossible not to look at everything with new eyes and to see potential everywhere.
As I get to know Z, I find that just talking to him, telling him about all the things that he’ll learn about and interact with and make — it fills me with a spirit of possibility.
Raising kids is challenging, no doubt about it. And there are days which can be pretty long.
But we get so many things from our kids, and like it did with his big brother, it’s amazing to me how much Z coming into the world has already given me, how much it’s broadened my perspective, and how he’s already helping me see so much optimism and possibility in the world.
Hello John,
I was doing a search on “shoulder problems” and came across your post from last yr detailing your 2nd surgery. Before I get into that and even though I don’t know you, congrats on the birth of your child, I saw that when I clicked on your blog’s “home”. I’m 39 years old and dislocated my left shoulder for the 1st time when I was 19 playing football. I dislocated it probably 20 times over the next 14 yrs while playing various sports before I finally bit the bullet and had it repaired. I had full open surgery in 2005. I have not dislocated it since, but I also really don’t play the type of sports any more that could cause it to dislocate (football, basketball, or anything contact). In the first few years after surgery it still felt somewhat loose and weak, but it never has come out. I know I still favor it from years of doing so prior to surgery, such as when I sneeze. I did the physical therapy on my own and I think I did fairly well. I got back to the point where I could lift weights, but after about 2 yrs I finally realized that it wasn’t going to get any stronger. I don’t do things like pull ups or even free weight bench press because of the pain it causes. Anyway, now that I’ve given you some background, my main complaint at this point is that I really can’t sleep on my left side without it resulting in a dull aching pain that eventually gets me to roll over. If I manage to fall asleep on my left side, then the next day I have the dull pain and I have to take a lot of Advil to manage it. I’m wondering if I should go back to the Doc or if this is just collateral damage that I’m going to have to live with. My shoulder fatigues very easily any time I’m lifting my arm above my head to do something like screw in a light bulb or worse, if I’m trying to unscrew something that takes more than a minute or so. I can live with all that, but the sleeping thing really annoys me. I’d love to hear about your take on all of this and how you’ve recovered from your surgery.
Thanks!
Ken – Houston, TX
I am sorry I missed this when it actually occurred. Congrats, John, awesome news 🙂