They say you give things up when you become a parent, that you make sacrifices. That’s true, no big shock there. But Katie and I are lucky enough to not have to go without essentials so the kid can eat or anything like that. But I do miss things, some more than others.

Note: I realize this is going to be a #firstworldproblems list.

– Video games – I still get to play, but the time is reduced. Before Six was around I could go 2 or 3 weeks not playing and it was fine, but mostly I played every Wednesday night with a couple of friends. And on at least one of the weekend days I’d get up early, make coffee, sit down, and blast away.

I still play Wednesday nights after taking a few months after after Six was born. And I’m back to gaming on the weekend mornings if I can, but I’ve learned that any games I play on those day can not involve other players. It has to be something I can pause at any time in case Logan needs something. I tried playing some online Gears yesterday and it did not go well for anyone. Some weekends, I just have to skip it entirely.

– Tabletop gaming – I miss sitting around, participating in a cooperative story, and rolling some dice. I miss gaming with Gwydo and crew, Derek, and my beloved C-Team.

I figured I’d try to get to a con for a day of gaming. And then Gamicon moved to Cedar Rapids, where my Inlaws are. It’s easier to stay out a day or two now with only two cats to worry about it. I figured I’d take Katie and Logan with me, we’d hang at the Inlaws for a few days and I’d visit the con. I had it all set, it was gonna be awesome.

And then I realized that was my on-call week for work and I can’t go. Suck.

– Sleep – I bet you thought this would be first, didn’t you? I still get to sleep so that isn’t the issue. The issue is that I never seem to get it at the moment I feel I really need it. You know those times when the day is done and you’re exhausted and you could just fall into a nice, gentle coma? Yeah, that’s when Six wants to give his lungs a good work out. Katie handles a lot of this and she gets it worse than me, but overall, it isn’t great.

– Being able to hang out with my wife at will – Now we’re always worried about the kid. And we knew it would be like this. But to randomly get up and go grab some Thai with my One and Only whenever we feel like it? Yeah, I totally miss that.

But then?

Then I see pics of my boy like this:

And the other stuff just falls away. Katie took this pic. It’s a little blurry, but I like to think it’s because he was so outrageously happy in that moment that he was slightly out of phase with this reality.

I set this pic as my lock screensaver on my phone and it cheers me up every time I see it. Every time. Even if I’m in a great mood, suddenly I’m in a better one. I see this pic and I don’t miss being able to hang out with my wife as much as before. I still get to see her everyday. Not everyone gets that luxury.

And I don’t miss the other things at all. Why would I?