By SEAN DOHERTY, Student Reporter
I fell off a ladder about a week ago.
I’m ok, at least at the time I’m writing this article. It was my own fault really. The ladder was a little wobbly to begin with, and I was in a hurry for Thanksgiving dinner at my girlfriend’s mother’s house. So, I tried to rush down the ladder and paid a price. Thankfully my back took the brunt of the fall, and the damp grass cushioned my backside.
As soon as the cuckoo birds cleared my ears and I realized I was alright, I stood up and thanked God for — once again — watching out for me.
We fall in life. Sometimes it feels like the universe yanks the ladder out from underneath us. If we were more honest with ourselves, the ladder falling is usually our own fault. Either way, suddenly seeing blue sky really makes you contemplate, “How did we get here?”
I felt a similar feeling this time last year when I found out I was going to be a father for the first time. In an instant, my whole perspective changed. To be frank, if felt like karma. It felt like I’d just fallen two stories. But at the same time, it gave me something I felt I’d lost—purpose. I had something to drive me forward. New Year’s Eve I was actually excited to start a new chapter.
What to expect when you’re expecting
I didn’t have any idea what to expect when we were expecting, but I didn’t expect this. Returning for the spring semester started out normal, except I was driving back and forth to class from Cherokee Sales Company almost every day.
Most weeks I worked the night shift, loading cattle trucks Wednesday night well into early Thursday morning. One day I showed up at 11 a.m. and didn’t get off my feet until I crawled into my bed at 8 a.m. the next morning.
It was hard work, but I’m not asking for sympathy. Like I said, I had something to help push me.
Then came the longest spring break in history. I traveled back to Colorado for spring break, unsure, as I’m sure most college students were, about what was about to happen next.
It was during this period where the ladder threatened to topple over again. I personally didn’t have a problem transitioning to online, but the internet at my parent’s home did. Although my circumstances weren’t great, I actually see that period as a blessing as well.
I got to spend more time with my parents and brother than I had in a long time. I was able to work on school and walk right outside and go to work helping my parents. I know it was hard on my girlfriend, and it was hard on me too, but being isolated gave me time to reflect and think about the future.
I believe I’m better for it.
I came back to Alva full-time in June. For once I felt grateful for my June birthday, because it meant I actually got to go out and celebrate my 21st birthday as things slowly opened up again. But the ladder wobbled again.
My girlfriend started getting agonizing pains in her side. Google and doctors at Share Medical Center here in Alva called them Braxton-Hicks contractions, but something about that diagnosis bothered me. The due date was a month away.
We didn’t have to wait that long. My girlfriend woke me at 2:30 a.m. on July 19 and told me to drive her to Enid. At about 9:45 the next morning, the ob/gyn on call informed us that my girlfriend had appendicitis and would need an emergency C-section and appendectomy, and needed to be prepped in the next 10 minutes.
I scrambled to inform the family, then scrubbed up and followed the nurses to surgery. The whole I felt like I was falling, just waiting for the inevitable splat. I sat outside the OR for probably 20 minutes. I lost track. All the anxiety and fear I battled over the past eight months had me pinned down.
Then the nurse called me in.
Within five minutes of me stepping in the OR, Jameson Asher Doherty was born. All the anxiety and fear fell away. I never hit the ground. I found my balance, and my son would be the one to keep me steady.
The ladder would continue to wobble as the fall semester started, and my balance would get tested. I was offered the opportunity to be the marketing intern for NWOSU Dining Services, I wrote articles for this publication and started my own rodeo podcast.
When I have time off from that, I mow lawns and hang up Christmas lights, and try to be a Dad.
This semester is less like a ladder and more of a bike on a high-wire. Thankfully, the Alva community and NWOSU family provide a safety net.
This time last year I thought I was headed for the worst time of my life. But as I’m writing this, my girlfriend is playing with my son and his laughs fill the whole house. I’m happier now then I’ve ever been.
Sometimes it still feels like I end up on my back. We will still fall in life. But find balance, and keep climbing.