Baby, I'm Amazed

December mornings are cold here in Carolina. Heading out at 5 in the morning, there's probably a layer of frost on your windshield that has to be dealt with before you make your way to the gym. It's dark, most of the town is still asleep, but you're committed to exercising, and so off you go. Sounds pretty rough, right? Now, imagine doing all those things and being in the early stages of pregnancy.

When I found out Emily was pregnant, we had been doing 5 AM gym trips for months. I was certain that her baby would not be able to endure all the weight lifting and high-kicking we'd been doing. Either that, or he would come out fabulously sculpted. It is a joyful thing for me to report that Emily's baby arrived in fine condition early this morning--just in time for a run on the treadmill.

I haven't known Emily for too long, but most of the things I know about her reveal a tremendous inner strength. From her summer in Chicago last year, to her endurance of some awful teaching situations, Emily has shown us a spine of steel.

In a large group, Emily will come across as quiet and laidback. While I'm working hard to keep the spotlight on myself, she's working just as hard to avoid it. In the one-to-one conversations, though, she opens up and is full of fun stories. Trips to Europe and South America, childhood adventures in Maine, dogs who conspire to break one another out of the invisible fence. Adventure seems to follow her, or perhaps she has been following it all these years.

Today, with the arrival of her little guy, I suspect the greatest adventure of all has found her.