OK. It's evident this article was written by a woman. The whole thing about chest thumping, etc., is crap. I've never known a single dad who has ever done that, not even grandfathers.
That said, what the article discusses is true. Fatherhood changes a man. The November after my eldest was born, I saw an article in the paper about how there had been a major pile-up on the Interstate 5 freeway near Stockton, California. Fog had set in as it often does there, causing the accident to occur. A family's vehicle became engulfed in flames. The mom and dad got out of the car on time, but couldn't get their 5-year-old boy out before their auto was consumed. They had to watch their boy die, screaming and crying for help.
Before my son's birth, I would have thought, 'Ohhhhh ... How tragic!' It would have presented a remote consideration for me. Now that I was a father, I balled (i.e., cried) for probably a half-hour. For me it wasn't some removed boy in California, it was my first born in Ohio. Also, I used to watch the TV show, "ER" each week. I stopped my son's birth. Why? Because each episode featured some child in some horrific, life threatening situation. I couldn't help but see my son in that position, and it was too upsetting for me.
That said, what the article discusses is true. Fatherhood changes a man. The November after my eldest was born, I saw an article in the paper about how there had been a major pile-up on the Interstate 5 freeway near Stockton, California. Fog had set in as it often does there, causing the accident to occur. A family's vehicle became engulfed in flames. The mom and dad got out of the car on time, but couldn't get their 5-year-old boy out before their auto was consumed. They had to watch their boy die, screaming and crying for help.
Before my son's birth, I would have thought, 'Ohhhhh ... How tragic!' It would have presented a remote consideration for me. Now that I was a father, I balled (i.e., cried) for probably a half-hour. For me it wasn't some removed boy in California, it was my first born in Ohio. Also, I used to watch the TV show, "ER" each week. I stopped my son's birth. Why? Because each episode featured some child in some horrific, life threatening situation. I couldn't help but see my son in that position, and it was too upsetting for me.
Married fatherhood makes you see the world in a whole different light. It's like that commercial, "There's clear, and then there's Claritin clear." It makes your life change on a dime.
I love being a father. People look at me like I'm mad when I tell them I have more than four children. I think they're mad when they say they would only ever want one or two. What?! You would limit the blessings and love that comes into your life? Because that's what fatherhood -- parenthood, really -- is: Opening your heart and your life to love and life and giving that in ways you never thought possible in return. Praise God for marriage and fatherhood. (Love the mothers, btw.)
Disclaimer: Don't do this alone. It is not a single occupation. I'm not dissing those who are single parents. God bless them. They do an incredibly admirable and tough job, but it is one that God in His great design and even greater intelligence than our meant for two people with complimentary though vastly differing faculties [read: a man and a woman]. No matter how good a job one parent does, two parents of good will do an objectively better job. No parent is perfect. When one parent is a danger to the family, of course, all bets are off. All things being equal, however, the best of all possible worlds is to have a mother and a father. Stepping off the soap boxxxxx ... now. There.
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