SOMETHING SOMETHING BURT WARD… THIS THING WRITES ITSELF

We had a baby. From what I’ve heard – and now learned firsthand in the couple weeks – this changes everything. Indeed, I have picked up a guitar about three times in the past two weeks and only when baby is sleeping. The sweet albeit modestly appointed recording space I’d begun putting together – as the oasis, the “me time” escape, the geographical separation of family and music – has been getting more use storing boxes (from car seats, strollers, etc.) than as a home studio. This was probably inevitable. When my wife and I met, working as summer camp counselors, seven years ago, the head counselors described – as staff orientation ended – that the coming weeks would be “the longest days of the shortest summer of your life”. With parenthood the days are ten times longer; the summers will inevitably be shorter.

Eventually, I’m sure we’ll reclaim some semblance of personal time from parenthood. Not much, I’m sure – but I’m actually excited about the prospect of forced time limits on my long-standing Achilles’ Heel of interminable recording, mixing, and remixing. My friends who have some to parenthood before me still make music – the drummer of my last “serious” band toured for three years while raising a 2-5 year old and having another child in that time. I would inevitably be a poor, frustrated, and distracted parent if I failed to continue doing things I love and sharing that aspect of life with my child.

For now though, the Kiddo is King. We sleep in short shifts, we cry unexpectedly, we are thrilled by wet diapers (after an early dehydration scare, you’ve never seen two people give a child with more encouragement for regularly peeing himself), we shower baby with praise over his 1lb weight gain at his two-week pediatric check-up, we survive on water and saltines and the meals that arrive in foil and take-out containers. In the end, I hope that fatherhood makes me a better and more prolific musician – providing me a reason to try to be happy and satisfied with my music and a reason to get things done, in order to get on to the more important job at hand.