Father’s Day: Mason man becomes a father for the second time -- 25 years after the first

Their lives seemed as settled as concrete.

Their professional careers were well-established, for seven years they were empty nesters after their son graduated in 2014 from Mason High School, then married this year.

Next on Life’s Checklist for Jeff and Tracey Carson appeared to be grandparenting.

Instead they hope to be Grand Parents.

Twenty-five years after becoming parents for the first time, Jeff, 49, and Tracey, 45, welcomed their second child into the world when Ella Kay was born June 3 at UC Health West Chester Hospital.

So Jeff Carson gets his second shot at Father’s Day.

“A new beginning, a new chapter,” said Jeff, director of flight operations at the Armor Metal Group who earlier spent 14 years as a pilot for Comair Airlines.

When their son, Jacob, was born on Nov. 25, 1995, Jeff was 24, Tracey was 20. They lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Sanford, Fla. He was in flight school at the Comair Academy and she was a waitress after leaving college after two years.

Earlier, Jeff earned his associate’s degree in professional aeronautics at Vincennes University in Indiana. He then earned his bachelor’s degree in professional aeronautics with a minor in business management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

As a young father, he worked six days a week. He was so career-driven he missed some of the moments that make parenting the most rewarding job.

This time, his life has slowed.

“It definitely will be different,” he said of becoming a second-time and much more mature father.

His wife sometimes catches him just staring at their daughter. Father-daughter seconds melt into minutes.

“I can see tears in his eyes,” his wife said.

After having a son 25 years ago, the Carsons never stopped trying to have more children. She just never got pregnant. When Jacob reached high school, they had “written off having other children,” she said.

“We loved our little lives,” said Tracey, a University of Cincinnati graduate and spokeswoman for the Mason school district.

Then late last year, right in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, Tracey felt sluggish. She saw her doctor who diagnosed a possible ulcer.

Several weeks later, she took a pregnancy test. It was positive. She was 11 weeks pregnant.

Then Ella Kay, measuring 18 inches and weighing 4 pounds, 7 ounces, was born.

“A little miracle happened,” Tracey said.

Two months before Ella was born, her paternal grandfather, Michael Carson, 76, died after heart surgery that followed a battle with lung cancer.

“We wish he could be here for this,” she said.

As the couple prepared to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary last spring, Tracy worked on a commemorative project that included photos of them attending high school prom together and lyrics to one of her favorite Green Day songs:

“It’s something unpredictable.

But in the end it’s right

I hope you had the time of your life.”

She laughed when she thought about the word “unpredictable.”

“It just continues,” she said.