COLUMN: Go, Joansie, go

Phone. For the love of God, where is my phone?

Oh, yeah, right here in my hand.

Phhewwww!

What if that thing rang and I was not there to answer it? Would it make a sound?

Maybe I should duct tape it to the side of my face, over my left ear, the one that still works?

Oh my God ... it’s here any day now.

Deep breath Charles….you’ve been through this before and things worked out quite well.

But this time it’s with Scooter, my youngest daughter.

She is about to have a baby!!! “Any day now” is the latest report I heard during my frequent calls and texts to ask how she is doing.

Any day now? THIS is an "any" day now.

One of the great things is that this grandchild on the way will likely arrive during the break between winter sports and spring sports at the seven schools I scramble to cover each week.

And I already know, through the miracle that is ultrasound, that grandkid number three is a girl! I already have two awesome grandsons, but as the father of one son and two daughters, I needed to have a granddaughter.

She can be the next female child who melts her grandpa’s heart just by looking at me.

No, there won’t be the suspense of watching a ball swirl around the rim and drop off at the last minute, preserving an amazing late season win by the Plains Trotters.

No heart-pounding excitement watching a St. Regis Tigers player sprint free for the end zone, or seeing a long throw hauled in at the goal line by a T Falls wide receiver.

I know this is a girl and I know her name will be — Joansie.

That moniker goes well with the names given to my grandsons, Emerson, five, and Asher, three.

This will be Joansie, a little cutie whose name is derived from my ex-wife’s side of the family.

And her mom, Kaley Rose, will love her with all her heart. So will her daddy, Brandon, a hard-working farm kid from Oregon who turned my daughter into a redneck, married her and is now raising a family.

I’m okay with that big time, mostly because I’ve always been considered a guy with a ruby neck myself.

So when this phone does ring, her due date is March 12, I will be heading across Lookout Pass to Coeur d’Alene at break neck, but safe speed.

There are no basketball games, no softball games, no volleyball, no games of any kind on the schedule for that date. Only copious amounts of snow would keep me from reaching the Lake City.

And as was the case with my two grandsons, the first time I get to hold them (same thing with my kids too) I will at one point imagine what sport will catch Joansie’s eyes?

My daughters were good swimmers and in Kaley’s case, a really good gymnast and diver. Tara, daughter number two, was awesome in the swimming pool.

And Tim, my son, played em all! His passion these days is jujitsu, where he is a trophy winning heavyweight black belt. Emerson is now in jujitsu training.

Hopefully one day I will be in the stands watching Joansie kick a goal, or sink a three-pointer. Maybe she will be the finest saxophone player her school has ever heard. Maybe she will debate and beat them all.

One thing’s for sure, her sports-loving grandpa will be busting a seam from pride, not the effects of aging and Coors Liight. Dare I dream she could be a world class barrel racer?

Go, Joansie, go!!