In the fall of 1986, Kate and I moved into our first house. It was a small duplex in West Point, Indiana. I had just started work at a private psychiatric hospital, and Kate was working for the welfare department. We were broke and in over our heads! The date is lost, but probably in October, Kate found out she was pregnant. I remember we were standing in our little kitchen, surrounded by hideous green cabinets and a pink countertop when she told me. My breath was taken away. I wanted to show her how happy I was, but I was scared. A dad? No, really, me? Kate was ecstatic. Ever the planner, she began. How would we work out work schedules, what would the nursery look like, what about names? It really was a great period in our lives. Along with renovation of the house, both of us in school and working, we began to get ready for this baby. June 7, 1987 Kate went into labor and we headed for Home Hospital in Lafayette, IN. We stopped at the drug store on the way to pick up a deck of cards. Someone in one of the birthing classes had suggested cards as a way to pass the time. Have those people ever given birth? Well, we had time. About 36 hours as it turned out. It was a slow labor and hard on Kate. I think the MD finally got tired of waiting and didn’t want to be up all night, so they decided to knock Kate out with something, saying she could sleep through the remainder of the night and deliver in the morning. I began to worry that she would end up delivering cesarean. She never expressed any fears, so I far as I know remained confidant throughout. It seemed like whatever medication she was given relaxed her enough that her labor actually sped up and began progressing fairly quickly. Within about 2 hours she was ready to deliver, and in the early morning hours on June 9 Kate gave birth to Alison. Amazing! We had been blessed with the most beautiful daughter imaginable. The hospital stay was short. Kate got the OK to go home late in the afternoon on the 10th. As we were packing up, an earthquake hit southern Illinois (near Olney) that was felt across parts of Indiana. We thought something had exploded in the basement of the hospital as the whole building rumbled. But all was well and we headed home. The thing I remember is that Kate took to mothering as if she had been around kids for years. I know that at times she expressed anxiety, but I never saw it in how she handled everything. Whether it was bathing Alison in the sink, getting her dressed, or sucking mucus out of her nose with that bulb syringe (could that be more awful to watch!) she just seemed to know and do. And immediately everyone commented on how they looked alike. Baby pictures from Kate revealed that this new Lane-Tyler was a very close copy of her mom. The two beautiful women in my life. I have been blessed.