100 or more

While I was away at camp a 2 weeks ago, my wife, pregnant with our third, went into pre-term labor. Fortunately, Amanda did not deliver the next Maguire while I was away. But now we’re in a nervous holding pattern. They say each one comes a bit more quickly than the last. Molly, my 2 year old, conducted a lightning fast delivery: four hours from initial contractions to “it’s a girl”.

My wife’s OB has told us, “as soon as the contractions start, get to the hospital, or you could have a minivan delivery”. Which, suffice it say, the Honday Odyssey is quite comfortable, has a 5-star safety rating, and there are plenty of cup holders and cubby holes.

But now, as my team is getting ready for our final and biggest camp of the summer season, I have to watch them go. There’s just a bit too much risk to leaving after our scare while I was away. Oh, I’m sure camp will be great. In many ways, the camp will be better without me — none of that hovering, pestering, over-eager excitability that I unfortunately bring to the team.

I’ll miss camp: all the inside jokes, memories, and the God-in-students’ lives-stuff that comes from it. But, in the end, it’s really not that tough of a choice.