Sweet
Creating a Person 
She was just a smidge bigger than a bag of sugar the first time I held her. I took her in my arms peered out the hospital window and showed her the sun rising above the Georgia pines. It was her very first sunrise on her very first day. The 364 days since then have been full of other firsts. Not just for her, but for her parents and her sister as well. We have grown as a family and gelled as a team. In many ways she is still the boss of this household with all of her “I need to eat and can’t feed myself” and “Change my diaper!” demands that refuse to neatly reside on the outsides of our sleep schedule. I told someone once that the predominant feeling when I became a dad was more. After becoming a father you still do a lot of the same things you did before but for me they just all seemed more. I guess a world-changing focus can have a way of accentuating even the most menial tasks. When our littlest one was born I felt that same moreness but there was also a feeling of togetherness that has only grown stronger over the last 12 months. I look back now and can’t imagine how things were before we all got to share in her joy and curiosity. She seems to not only complete our little family but also add hope and possibility that we hadn’t even considered. To say the least, I am smitten with this growing babbling toddling bundle of joy. Tonight I only stopped squeezing her because I was afraid she would break. She is one of my greatest accomplishments and even though I seem to have checked humor at the door in this post, I can already tell how much she loves to laugh, and that makes me swell inside. I am a lucky man and today I reflect and look forward celebrating a first birthday of a little person that we created. We made a person? How sweet is that?!?!
Weak
Having your car worked on 
This post could write itself, as there are a litany of frustrations associated with having your car repaired. I join your dismay about having to dish over $350 to have my flux capacitor re-calibrated. Parts for said capacitor always seem to have to be ordered from somewhere far away like Hill Valley, CA leaving you with another bummer proposition: the loaner or rental car. If you haven’t needed to rent a car in a while you can rest assured that when you do a couple of things will happen. Fist of all, the key chain for your rental car will be like something they keep behind the counter at a gas station you would never want to stop at to use the restroom. Seriously, this thing can hardly fit in my pocket and I am fairly certain it doubles as a flotation device in case of emergency. In bold letters along this giant key-chain it says, replacement keys cost a bajillion dollars. I get what they are doing here but I would rather not have to carry one of those wheely briefcases just to hold my car keys. The second certainty when renting a car is that once you (or your spouse, probably your spouse) returns home you will realize that your garage door opener is still clipped to your visor at the repair shop. This is a minor trouble assuming that you still carry a key to your house with you at all times. Surely there aren’t people out there so irresponsible that they wouldn’t even carry a key to their own home. I mean, depending on your garage door opener as your only means for entering your abode is not very well thought out. What if the power is out or something? Luckily no one does that so forgetting your garage door opener is only a minor problem. No one is sitting in their driveway right now writing a blog post from their car. Getting your car worked on is totally weak. I hope my wife gets home soon, I really wanted to watch “The Sing Off.”
Simon C. Holland 
October 4th, 2013 at 5:08 pm
Happy Birthday to your little one, Simon. Lovely post for her.
October 4th, 2013 at 8:33 am
Beautiful birthday post, Simon! As for the ‘sitting in the driveway’ fiasco, I can relate! Damn those electric garage openers…when they don’t!
October 3rd, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Happy Birthday to the little one 🙂 She’ll love reading this someday 😉
October 3rd, 2013 at 4:25 pm
Reblogged this on sweetandweak and commented:
I wrote this when my youngest turned one. Today she turns three and my heart swells with love for her. She is like if you gave a firecracker pigtails and all you wanted to do was hug it. Happy birthday little one.
December 5th, 2011 at 11:39 am
[…] Creating a Person by Simon (in which he definitely did not lock himself out) […]
November 16th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
I have three such creations, and no matter how old they are (my oldest is 14) you still get those moments that catch you sideways when you just marvel in wonder that this person came from you. Just the other day, my beautiful daughter walked into the kitchen, and I couldn’t help but say to her, “Dangit girl! I did a good job cooking you!” She of course just shakes her head and rolls her eyes….someday she’ll understand. 🙂
November 17th, 2011 at 10:07 am
Totally agree.
October 14th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Thank you all for the kind words!
October 10th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Happy B-day smallish bear! Love it!
October 10th, 2011 at 6:38 am
We’ve had two gorgeous ‘greatest accomplishments’ now, and I really can;t imagine life without either of them. Its amazing how humbling being at the centre of some little person’s world can be. Hold on tight as they do grow so quickly. Our Little Miss is almost 3 now – she rocks my world and the Little Big Man is 6 months and boy has that gone quickly!
As far as using the garage opener as a key, nobody would ever do that. Just like nobody would lock their keys in their car and then run out of petrol on the very same day (in the pouring rain when they have an exam to get to) No… nobody does those things…
October 6th, 2011 at 8:49 am
You remind me of the techie (my husband) he calls V his greatest accomplishment too 🙂
Happy b’day to your little bundle of joy and may life bless her with all that is good 🙂
Having you car worked on totally sucks especially if it’s raining (see it can get worse).
October 5th, 2011 at 11:04 am
Very nice Sweet – a sweet Sweet. Happy Birthday to your daughter.
I’m so glad that you didn’t leave your garage door opener at the repair shop. That would have been awful. Or at least annoying.
at least you used your time well 🙂
October 4th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
What a lovely sentiment about your little girl. It is so nice to hear from a father’s perspective . I too have a baby girl that just turned one in July and everything you wrote is so true!!!
October 4th, 2011 at 9:23 am
Happy Birthday to your little princess!
As a parent I find birthdays to be a splitting event – part of me relishes in the huge party, the mountain of presents, and the cake made just for her as her eyes widden with excitement at it all, and the other part of me wants to curl up around her to try and limit her rapid growth so that she remains my baby forever.
October 4th, 2011 at 7:19 am
Fatherhood is the greatest thing ever isn’t!? I never pictured myself as a father because I still act like I’m 12 sometimes but there is no greater joy in this world than cradling your own creation for the first time…any time for that matter! And watching them grow for the first couple years is not only hilarious but also incredibly fascinating.
Congrats and pass along my Happy Birthday wishes to your daughter!