I should start this post by clearing stating that I hate hospitals.  I know that in order to be the places of healing there are, they must also inevitably be places of death as well, but it just seems that my first experiences in hospitals were much more of the later and I can't get over it.

Tonight I had the privilege of seeing the insides of two East Valley hospitals, Chandler Regional, where good friends Matt and Adrienne were busy having their first child (a little boy named Ryland), and Banner Desert, where I sat with my daughter as she got her first two stitches (which is two more than her dad has ever had I should add).

It was a busy night, but an interesting one filled with the smells and sights of new birth, smiling first-time fathers, emergency room weirdos, and kids damaged while playing their favorite sports.  At the end of it all – Kirra got three stitches, a pink bandaid, and a red popsicle.  I'll leave it at that – for you to imagine how she might have ended up needing stitches – I am not sure I have the whole story myself.  The important thing is that Ryland Gibson has arrived and is doing well despite being several weeks early and that my little girl braved her first emergency room experience in a way that would make any dad proud, despite a few much-understood tears.