Weighing in at just under six pounds, five ounces, Evangeline Elizabeth Shanmac (i’ll explain the last name in a bit) entered the world a little after 1 a.m. on Sunday, March 23. She arrived after 45 hours of labor and about two weeks prior to her due date. I like to think there’s some humorous explanation behind the two-day long labor, but my wife has assured me that there’s really nothing funny about it.
As I am new to the parenting scene, I’d like to apologize in advance for any spelling errors, typos and other things that warrant corrections in the Journal over the course of the next nine months — or however long it takes for this newborn to start sleeping through the night.
I find myself thinking about the community that Evangeline will grow up in, and the more I do, the more confident I am in my belief that the resources she’ll need to succeed will be around her. This confidence stems from years of covering Southwest Washington’s business community, where I’ve witnessed how our local employers are willing to go the extra mile to provide for our youth.
So to those in our community who take the time to donate materials to our local schools; to volunteer their time and expertise; to offer youth scholarships and/or internships, I say thank you; Evangeline thanks you.
A new byline
Now to explain that last name… When my wife and I got married, we never expected that keeping both of our last names would create as much confusion as it has. Perhaps it stems from the fact that her last name — Shannon — sounds like a first name. Or maybe our mistake was not hyphenating the two names. Regardless, we decided to save Evangeline from a lifetime of alphabet soup by hiking over to the Clark County Courthouse and filing the necessary paperwork to legally combine Shannon and Kulmac (my last name) into something new: Shanmac.
Beginning in next week’s edition of the Vancouver Business Journal, you’ll notice my byline will have changed from Nicholas Shannon Kulmac to Nicholas Shanmac. Just know that the VBJ doesn’t have a new editor. I’m still here, doing my best to avoid those sleep deprived typos.
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