With each prayer I became more excited about this baby, even though Josh and I weren’t getting along. Josh was legitimately happy (as in happy for me behind closed doors, not just in front of people) about my job offer at Auburn. With that momentum, I decided I was going to surprise Josh in a special way with news of this baby. Around Christmastime, I had already been waitlisted for some tickets to the practice round of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. Josh was turning thirty that year, and he had so many exciting things coming up: graduation, a new job, and now baby number two. With the help of the Auburn Athletics communications department, I was going to surprise Josh with tickets to the Masters on the largest video board in college football at Jordan-Hare Stadium. We invited Josh to the stadium for a “meeting,” where several of his friends and Aubie, the school’s mascot, gathered with us to yell “Surprise!” and give out cupcakes.
We went onto the field for a special announcement. I had made a video for Josh celebrating his thirty years of life: “You served your country” and “You became a dad” rolled across the screen along with images of Josh standing for the first time and pictures of him holding his baby girl in the hospital. As he watched the images following “You joined the Auburn family,” I bent down to change Harper’s shirt. The video continued: “2016 is not done with you yet… This year you will have a bachelor’s degree from Auburn University, a handicap-accessible home, and… a trip to the Masters!!!” Shading his eyes, he read the scoreboard and smiled as everyone clapped for his surprise. I picked Harper up but didn’t let Josh see her new shirt. I pointed back to the screen, which said, “Wait! There’s one more surprise! Your last gift is the best gift… there is just one catch…” And then an ultrasound image of baby number two at ten weeks popped up on the screen with a caption that said, “You can’t open until October.” I loved the five seconds it took Josh to process what he was seeing. He whipped his head around to me with the same expression he had the day I threw the pregnancy test at him at Walter Reed. He read Harper’s shirt, which said BIG SISTER, and burst into tears. The next slide was a video of a wiggly little peanut baby in my belly with the caption “Baby #2 is on its way!” The crowd went nuts. Aubie came and hugged us both. Everyone was hugging, laughing, and crying. Josh was a puddle. He was hiding his face in his shirt from all the tears. He couldn’t believe it, and I was so touched and thankful for his reaction. We hugged for the first time in weeks.
He asked how far along I was, and he couldn’t believe I was already out of the first trimester (probably the biggest favor I’ve ever done for him). I posted “Josh’s Jumbotron Surprise at Jordan-Hare Stadium” on YouTube, and it went viral!
JOSH
Shading my eyes from the sun, I was so surprised when I saw “You’re going to the Masters!” That was a huge (and expensive) bucket list item for me, and I was really shocked that Paige had gone to such an extreme for my birthday. When she said there was more, I just thought, What else could there be? When the 190-foot screen showed an image of an ultrasound that captioned “You cannot open until October,” the gears in my head ground to a halt. Wait… What is that?… Is that an ultrasound?… Is this a pregnancy announcement?… Is that MY BABY?… ARE WE PREGNANT? I turned to look at my wife and my two-year-old, who confirmed it with their smiles and a BIG SISTER shirt worn by Harper. I was overwhelmed. I didn’t think I could stand any more, but Paige kept pointing at the screen. There was the little miracle on a live ultrasound wiggling with life on Auburn’s scoreboard. This was one of the happiest moments of my life.
What a miracle this was! We had done it again. We had naturally conceived another child, the probability of which became less and less the older I got. Paige had gone to such extravagant measures. She had conspired with some of my own co-workers and somehow created a video that would be shown on a scoreboard that I looked at almost every week. I wanted to jump for joy, but when I considered how at odds Paige and I were, it brought me down a notch. I thought, This is going to be harder than the last time. Reflecting back on Harper’s early life was like thinking about the glory days. We were such a great team, and even though we didn’t know what we were doing, we tackled it together. Right now, all I could think about was my job, Paige’s job, and Harper, and I wondered how we were going to balance it all. I’m sure every parent has this thought, but Paige and I were just coexisting in the same house. However, I think we both saw each other as good parents. I brought a lot of energy as Harper’s playmate, and she was at ease when she was with me. Paige was more of the disciplinarian, but she had done great things in Harper’s education. The daunting thing was, you don’t really raise a baby. You care for a baby. That requires communication and the desire to help each other out. How was I going to check that box and still show up for my career? Especially when I felt like my wife would eventually expect me to somehow sacrifice more to make things “fair,” since she would be the one to have the
