hope you like TV, kiddo

Seeeeeeuuuuuuuooo. So. Then.

Dad and NW had some news for me.

You probably know what the news was from that sentence.

Yeah.

I have thought about this possibility quite a lot since they decided to get hitched instead of just living together, since she comes from a Catholic upbringing and is smack in the middle of her childbearing years, but I figured that since my father is the age he is, they’d decided that wasn’t what they wanted.

Guess I was wrong.

In all of my imaginings I could never imagine what my reaction would be. Externally of course I’d be happy – I’ve found it’s NOT EVER a good idea to have any reaction other than joy and congratulations when someone tells you this news, even when they are not happy about it themselves – but on the inside? I really had no idea. I thought I’d be freaked out, and I am. I thought I’d feel sort of pushed aside, but I don’t. (I’m a grownup – it’s a little late to fight for my daddy’s love.) Mostly I’m just wondering about all the logistics of this – how Dad is going to cope being at the age he is, set in his ways, retired, settling back on a life lived hard and eventually well, and enjoying the finer things, and having to deal with a squalling infant who will want to knock over every 1500-year-old artifact in his living room multiple times.

I’m twenty-eight. And I’m going to be a sibling for the first time.