Picture Of The Day - 26 MAY 2010 "First Cries"

26 MAY 2010 - New Beginnings

Today my wife delivered two tiny little girls into this world. I was on the phone with her friend, Noel, who was in the delivery room with Mary as the wee ones came into this world. I clearly heard their first cries over the phone. Mine followed immediately after. Such a swell of unexplainable emotions. Its overwhelming. But thank God for all the advanced medical care that was available for my wife and children. Thank you Drs Cook, Nanda and Palmer.

Being far away only gives me time to ponder life and how lucky we are. I am in a country so impoverished, that it ranks worse than Somalia. I have seen numerous children wounded or injured with little to no access to healthcare. I have been asked to see children with congenital disorders that require surgery, but there is no one to help them. This, I have written about before in my dispatch on "Princess Salerno". 

So when people ask me why I chose to leave my wife and children to go to war - I now think about the fact that I am so lucky to just be able to make that choice. The people of Afghanistan and other countries like it have no choice. They have little to no ability to change their future unless someone helps them. I am not going to get on a political soap box. I have my personal viewpoints, but they are of no matter. What I do want to say is that we are an incredibly lucky nation. A nation that was built on hard work, God and kindness to your fellow man. That's what my parents taught me and I hope, for my children's sake, that our nation sticks with those roots. 

26 MAY 2010 - Celebration

On another note, it immediately occurred to me (being the High Tech Surgeon) how lucky I am to have the ability to have real-time communication from thousands of miles away (I certainly would have used telepresence technology if my internet bandwidth was better). Nonetheless, the Taliban cooperated and didn't mess with the cell towers, and the Internet bandwidth was just good enough to receive photos within minutes and repost them back for all my family and friends on Facebook. 

Thanks to Noel, Pat, Kim and Ross for getting pictures to me, nearly in real-time. Thanks to all my family and friends for being there and helping Mary. Again, without all of you - my family, friends, co-workers and employer - I could not be here to do the things I have done for our nation.  Its an honor. But the burden is definitely on those at home. God bless you all.