Telling the Parents

So the day finally came.... the day that Glenn and I got to share our happy new with our parents. First up were my parents on my dad's birthday. We called them up while they were on vacation in Colorado. Dad answered and I made small talk for a few minutes, as usual. Then I told him that I had gotten a present for both and Mom together as a kind of birthday/ XMas combo present. I asked him to get Mom on the phone too and I, myself, switched to speakerphone so Glenn could chime in.

"I have a present for you guys, but it won't be ready until around July 10 or so," I announced. They were stumped for a moment, trying to figure out what wonderful thing I had purchased for them. Glenn spoke up after a second... "You know, that's about 8 months from now..."

I then reenforced the point by just coming out and saying I was pregnant and the screaming began. Dad was his usual contained and yet excited self, repeatedly saying, "Alright! This is great! Alright!" If you know my dad, you can imagine the voice he used when saying this. In fact, after a few minutes, he was even stuttering and speechless. But it was great to hear the excitement in their voices. I can't exactly remember what they said, only because we were all so ecstatic.

The next day we headed out after work to Roanoke to spend Thanksgiving with Glenn's parents. They had also both had recent birthdays. As a late gift, we had bought two little picture frames for them and in each frame was a picture of, what Glenn's mom calls, "The stick I peed on." So we settled down after having dinner and pulled out their birthday presents. We told them to open them at the same time. At this point, I still wondered if they had figured out I was pregnant. As the mother-to-be, I sometimes think that everyone must know, when-- in reality-- no one does.

His mom got closer to getting the paper first so I focused on watching her. She reached into the paper and pulled the frame out. Her face screwed up, as she took a minute to figure out exactly what it was and then her face froze and then melted. She looked up at us in shock with questioning eyes, as we nodded. With a jump, she burst out of her seat, and into tears and ran over to us. Meanwhile, Hoopop (Glenn's dad) had opened his frame and sat with a giant grin on his face, rubbing his hands together. You could already see the plans rolling around in his head.

It is quite a special thing to tell your parents that you are having a child. All of a suddent, you are taking a new adult role, one that they themselves once went through. You are beginning to have the experiences they once did.