And that’s terrifying.

I’m pretty sure last week was July, and we were all in shorts wandering around bemoaning the humidity and whatever else ails all sweet summer children.

Every year, the holidays sneak up with their classic triple tap in the Fall. Halloween is always a lot of fun until you walk into a store on November 1st and are BOMBARDED with tinsel, reindeer, and dancing turkeys.

Right, in case we forgot.

This coming holiday season is a bit different, my last one without a son.

An amazing and wonderful upgrade, to be sure. But also one that gives me pause.

This is the LAST time I’ll be able to mindlessly wander the roads of the Midwest in search of more dinner at various houses. Or the FINAL time I’ll be free to just “go do the thing” with nary a concern or thought to what the following day may bring.

Now, these things are not quite true, on either end. But it is the start of something different, and even now, in the conversations of baby-proofing, moving bedrooms, and creating safe spaces, our little word is changing and growing in unforeseen ways.

And, like many unforeseen elements, there is an element of magic about the whole thing.

Kate often says that being pregnant is simultaneously the grossest and most metal thing she’s ever done. And while true, we have also been told that it will only get MORE metal and MORE gross from here on out.

But me? I’ve essentially been a wizard. There are some rather unimaginative jokes I could make about wands, but the truth of the matter is, I participated in a ritual and essentially summoned a being into existence.

The whole gross and metal part? All Kate.

The whole pregnancy, body changes, and hormonal shifts? All Kate.

People asking weird questions and trying to touch the baby? Mostly Kate.

Handshakes and knowing winks. Me. Wizard of the Ritual.

My current wizardly duties include, but are not limited to, making sure we have lots of carbs and cheese on hand and providing pertinent and scathing opinions on whatever baby product we don’t like on Wirecutter.

It’s a weird moment. Because at the same time as all of this. I’m also doing normal life. Planning out the next Milwaukee Open, running two Karate schools, and even trying some things that are new and challenging in completely different ways (That would be Hyrox, the runner’s CrossFit).

And those, too, are all a type of magic.

But it’s different.

All I know is that with all of this magic coming up and down the metaphorical pipe — it’s about to be one hell of a Christmas and, as previously stated, that’s terrifying.