Becoming a Parent

     Becoming a parent is one thing that could not have been appropriately described to me. As a parent, I know I would not be able to describe it, but I will share some random thoughts on it.

     There are some things that can be described. For example, having a cavity filled by a bad dentist is like someone sticking a nail in your mouth and hammering it into your gums. There was one visit where I could smell my tooth burning from the drill. I courteously asked if he was starting a fire in my mouth to roast marshmallows. Only problem was he had his fingers in my mouth so it came out as, ”Ah ou aring a ir n i ouh oo oas ashellos”. He smiled with his eyebrows while I cursed with my mind and crushed the armrests in my hands to ease the pain. I know, nothing like the act of childbirth, but nonetheless, not enjoyable.

       I was never been great with kids until they could get to the age of telling me what they wanted or what was wrong. I could never figure out what was going on. With my cleanliness and orderly issues I didn’t enjoy the barf, spit up, diaper leaks (can they still not solve that?), and everything else that came out of the kid.

     Stephanie still tells people about the time some friends of ours handed me their newborn and I looked beyond awkward holding him. Or the time someone asked if I wanted to hold the baby and I politely declined. By politely declined I probably responded with, “I’m good. You look like a pro.”

       When the day came that they handed my sweet little daughter to me I couldn’t let go. I’ve never had that true sense where I would die or kill for someone, outside of my wife, until that little girl was handed to me. We had the best doctor who was a true gentleman and scholar. When little Frankie Jane was crying in the delivery room he said to me, “That sound will cost you thousands of dollars, Dad.” He’s right.

     The amount of joy and love that I feel for that little girl is unmatched, except to my wife. I was hooked as soon as those beautiful blue eyes looked into mine. I can’t stop holding her, being with her, watching her, talking to her, listening to her, or experiencing every moment with her. I love the times when she would take naps on me. Or recently when we played for hours while Stephanie was at a baby shower for a couple we work with.

As I was holding Frankie in the hospital there was a realization that I never had before that moment. I was able to sense in the smallest degree the pain and sorrow God must have felt in sending his son to die for humanity. I could never adequately understand the hurt and sacrifice until I held my own child in my arms.

     Becoming a parent is the best thing that can happen to you. Don’t take that responsibility lightly, but live every moment of it to the fullest.