Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

I wanted to make my first post here on Sticks to actually mean something. Be a little streetwise, savvy, and have some bearing on the city. I wanted to make a real impact. But I have got some personal news to share that is making a deep impact in my life.

Don’t worry, I will be back to post something of journalistic greatness. I took on a role here at Sticks and I am determined to keep up with those responsibilities. But this… this is important.

So where to start? I thought I would put my blog on hiatus. I thought I had nothing left to write about. I thought the well was dry and there were no more stories to be written. But a hiatus was not meant to be. As an agnostic, it is hard for me to talk about God or any higher power out there in the universe. But I will say this. God has a sense of humor. Read on.

There are a few of you out there that may wonder what my problem has been the past few weeks. I have been a little out of sorts. Tense. Maybe a little irritable. And I gave up on my blog. What’s up with that?

I have had a lot on my mind. And I have been harboring a very large secret.

I was reluctant to let the cat out of the bag. Many of my “friends” will take this opportunity to ridicule me, make jokes, and otherwise take advantage of the situation. But the more I think about it, these “friends” are not that at all. My true friends will see my secret as
the blessing that it truly is.

My wife DyAnn and I are expecting our third child. She is 13 weeks along, our due date is July 24, 2007. Mommy thinks it’s a girl, but we won’t know for certain for some time.

Yes, it is the sixth child I am responsible for in the world. Yes, we were using birth control. Yes, I have “strong swimmers”.

No, I am not raising a private army. No, I am not a rabid horn dog. OK, maybe I am just a little.

All I ask is that my true friends step up and share in our happiness. We are already toeing the poverty line, but we figure we can handle another lifeform in our universe. Any of my “friends” who have nasty comments to make can just keep it to themselves.

As for the blog, for the next seven months it will be a daddy blog again. Talk of pregnancy, family, stress, and all the joy and pain of bringing another life into the world. Yeah, I’ll probably be pissy, and snarky, and have a lot of bile to release into the blogosphere. But you know what?

You wouldn’t have me any other way. It’s good to be back.