Tuesday, April 3, was one strange day for me – the kind that comes with some expected happenings but also with some out-of-the-blue occurrences.
It started with a presentation I had to give in a graduate class I’m taking at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UW-SP). My partner and I were well prepared for the presentation, so it went well. The unusual part for me was how much at ease I was in giving it. Public speaking has never been my forte. I usually sweat fear and hope for a cancellation, but in this case those worries never came. I was comfortable. It gives me hope that I’ll live a long life because I may be able to choose speaking in public rather than dying, when I confront that choice.
After working for a couple of hours, I met my wife, Jenny, at our home where we met with a guy about installing a lawn, something we’ve been lacking since building our new home last summer. He walked through the details and set a date, April 16. To our surprise, he said I’ll be mowing a lawn this summer. I haven’t done that in four years, and I will be happy to do so, despite the fact it technically is a chore.
From there, Jenny and I went to Ministry St. Michael’s Hospital for an ultrasound to determine the sex of the baby we are having in August. Doctors need the ultrasound at 20 weeks for other purposes – make sure the baby is healthy, is growing correctly, etc. – but for us it was all about finding out whether or not we are going to have another son, or our first daughter.
I’d reveal what we are having, but since this column is all about surprises, I’m going to wait the reveal the sex until after we have the baby in August.
That didn’t stop us from revealing it to family and friends. Facebook came in handy for that endeavor, but our moms can spread the word just as quickly as the social network. Both our mothers informed non-Facebook relatives quicker than this year’s maple sugar harvest, which was over before it even started.
Facebook was part of another surprise for me. The news editor at the Waushara Argus, where I previously worked and which is in my hometown of Wautoma, posted a news story to my Facebook timeline about an endeavor I’m a part of at UW-SP. I’ll write more about this in the future, but it was a pleasant surprise that generated some “Friend” feedback – like our reveal of the baby’s sex – that made me feel good the rest of the day.
The last surprise of the day was both bad and good. It was bad for the people directly involved, but good for me because I was called something I never thought anyone would ever call me. I’ll explain.
After picking up my son from school, he and I decided to go out to eat, since Jenny had left for Minocqua for an overnight work trip. I turned from Center Street onto Michigan Avenue, following a long line of traffic. Immediately after turning, I witnessed the car directly in front of me rear end the vehicle in front of it, which was stopping for the long line of vehicles in front of it at a traffic light.
It wasn’t a typical rear-end collision in which both vehicles drive away unscathed. The colliding vehicle hit the other vehicle quite hard, rendering both vehicles unfit for driving. Both of the drivers said they were OK, although the driver of the colliding vehicle was expectedly emotional about the incident.
The driver of the vehicle that got hit was rather calm, though. An older gentleman, he didn’t get worked up about the accident and took it more as part of his day rather than an unwanted surprise. In fact, he was so calm about it he actually recognized me from my little photo in this column. “Hey, aren’t you the guy that writes for The Gazette?” he asked.
That surprised me, because I didn’t think anybody would ever recognize me from that little photo. “That’s me,” I told him, introducing him to the son I always write about. The gentleman was a little worried about how he’d get home, so I offered to take him home after the vehicles were towed away and the police officers got all the statements, including mine, they needed.
In the car, I learned the Whiting resident moved here about nine years ago to take care of his mother, and his employer allowed him to work from home rather than resigning, as he had initially planned to do. After dropping him off, he thanked me and said he’ll have to tell everybody he was given a ride home by someone “famous.”
Being called “famous” was the biggest surprise of a day full of surprises. I like to keep my ego in check, but surprises like that make it difficult. Seriously, when I’m grouped with famous people like Brad Pitt and George Clooney, how am I supposed to not smile?
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Originally published in The Portage County Gazette Friday, April 6, 2012.
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