December 2, 1987

   It was December 2, 1987, early in the morning. My mother was at home, packing a duffel bag full of baby clothes, diapers, wipes, nursing gear and personal hygiene products she would need during her 3-4 day stay at the hospital where she actually worked. She had a C-section scheduled just a few shorts hours away and was ready to get things going. My father had decided, for whatever reason, that a huge breakfast from Shoney's all-you-can-eat buffet was in order that morning. Because my mother was required to fast for 12 hours, my dad went on by himself to gorge on greasy bacon, artificial eggs and those little shortcakes with strawberry compote (ugh) and the thickest whipped cream you've ever seen (mmmm). They had planned for several months now that the baby, which was a girl, would be named Aja after the Steeley Dan album my father so loved. In all honesty, I had to look up the lyric interpretation of this song and, hilariously enough, the song is actually about a bordello and includes many drug references. It is, though, a difficult song to understand and I assume my parents just really loved the sound of the name Aja. Back to the story, Dad had just finished his giant breakfast and headed home to get Mom all loaded up and headed to the hospital. It was baby time! During the procedure, the doctors informed my father that he could watch if he wanted, but it was a fairly bloody procedure. Dad stood up and looked over the curtain. I cannot blame him, as it was his child being brought into the world and he is a very protective man. Turns out peaking was not a good idea. Dad immediate became woozy and it must've been apparent, as the nurse calmly said to him, "Sir, if you go down, I cannot catch you." He sat back down in the chair provided and continued feeling ill until they handed him the birth certificate to be filled out and signed. On the line provided for the child's name, my light-headed father wrote "Asia". Yes, this is a different spelling than the song he was so excited to name his child after, but hey, he was lucky to still be conscious. So, while I was named after my dad's favorite album, it is not obvious by simply looking at my name, as the spelling indicates I was named after a continent. I have decided, though, over the years that I prefer the spelling I ended up with and I'm glad my dad is such a goober. Never heard the song? Here ya go...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG2seugAgnU