In the fall of 1989, my wife became pregnant again. This was something we had been trying for. The hope was for a girl but it did not matter that much. I thought it would be cool for Mom to have a little shadow to teach her stuff to. They say that to have a boy and a girl makes it what they call a million-dollar family.
Gina had one of those perfect pregnancies, not a single problem during the whole time. When she began to feel contractions, she asked to go to the hospital. Gina asked me to contact her mother so she could be there. I said OK, but in my head, I was thinking Yup, as soon as the birth happens. I still remember not being able to hold my son after he was born. Is this petty of me, maybe, but I felt strongly about this.
The labour was short, and after watching our first baby being born, this one was a breeze; my wife even joked during it. When the baby came, it was one push, and and my baby girl arrives. I was the father of a little girl, and I could not have been happier. I held onto her for an hour before I called my wife’s mom. Telling her the birth happened so fast that I had no time to call her. It was a little lie, but I felt good telling it. It was May 4th, 1990.
Before the birth, we had many aunties who felt that if we had a girl, she should be named after one of them; they all made sure we understood how upset they would be otherwise. My wife and I realized that this was quite a situation. I figured the only way to get past this was to name her Georgina Ann Logan after her mom. Not one auntie showed any displeasure about this, and to the contrary, I think they were all impressed with how we got out of it.
Before her birth, I speculated how a little girl would be great for mom. A little one she can share all her craft skills and jewellery-making with. This is not how it played, not at all. My little girl became a daddy’s girl. It did not matter what needed to be done; Daddy had to do it. You could never know how many Barbies I dressed. If little Gina got a boo-boo, only Daddy could make it better. I took to this role whole heartily as she was my little girl and I loved her.
Now, when I am working on one of our trucks, she will come out and get right under there with me; she is pretty handy, too. You see, she has small hands and can get them into spots where my hands don’t fit. Don’t get me wrong, my little girl is a lady, she looks after herself with care and is very pretty, but she can also do a bit of mechanics work with her dad and is not afraid to get dirty.