Maybe a few parents can relate with me, too.As most baseball fans know, 14 years ago at this time was a very dark time for baseball. The strike of 1994 occurred in August and it lasted through the playoffs and World Series and into the off-season. The strike was still going on in December and January, so we cancelled our first two issues of Fantasy Baseball Magazine and decided to produce one issue no matter if there was a baseball season or not. I remember February of 1995 very well because my first child decided to arrive six weeks early at that time, right when we were going to press as a one-man staff of a magazine whose future was tenuous at best!!
Today my five-pound premie turned 14 and I'm feeling mighty old as we go to press with our 20th anniversary issue of Fantasy Sports Magazine. We just finished a birthday party with all of her eighth grade friends and I stood there realizing that my five-pound premie is no longer a little girl. I've known that for quite some time, but now, .... yikes!!!
I'm feeling old and proud at the same time and reminiscing about 1995 and thinking how tough that was then and how...well, tough things are now. But how great we've had it with 14 years of good health for our Emily and two other children after her. We are blessed and I think God every day for that.Time sure does fly when you least expect it. I'm nearing 50, watching my kids grow up and my country make one dumb move after another and wondering what will all happen in the future. I guess I just need to remind myself that we should be fortunate with what we have and take it one day at a time. But then I see these sprightly kids who have everything now and expect everything to be there in the future and I get scared. Hopefully we'll all pull out of this Great Recession.
Okay, I think I'm better now. I'm older, and that's not so bad. I'll make sure my kids go to a college in the south so that they get jobs there and I can live with them when they get older. Time for their old man to give them payback in a few years.
I think an Arizona college makes sense. 
I'm a lucky man. Older, wiser, and luckier. I guess I'm happy that it's 2009, even if it's not as good as we all expected. It wasn't so good in February of 1995, either. Fourteen years have produced a lot of fun, a lot of good baseball, and at least one beautiful daughter. I'm sure many of you feel the same way.
Have a good weekend all.
[ February 07, 2009, 07:10 AM: Message edited by: Greg Ambrosius ]