Watching your Child Grow Up: The Chance to Be Little Again

I know what they say: people really don't care to hear somebody go on and on about their kids. If they listen at all, it's with a polite, but quite bored ear. Well, I'm sure the same is said for writing about your own children. In this case, I'm sure many of you might find this hub to be quite useless and boring, but I, on the other hand, enjoy very much this opportunity to brag on my child, to write all about him growing up before my very eyes, because that means something very special: that I am a father.  And my son?  He happens to be the absolute best!  Being a parent is something truly special, and it makes me wonder why there are so many children in orphanages.  There should be a place for every child, and my son's place is at his father's side.

Earlier in my young adult life, I never really could envision becoming a father.  I got married while away at college, and before long I was a father.  Although the notion had been discussed, I didn't know what to do.  Like any guy, I was really nervous.  However, they say anxiety is a wasted emotion, and suffice it to say, worrying did not slow down the clock.  A mere nine months passed by in what seemed like a blur of days.  At the end of those days, "Behold, a child was born.  And his name shall be, Nicolas!"  And becoming his father was the best thing that's ever happened to me.

When Nicolas arrived, and I was finally "a father", I was the proudest daddy on the face of the earth. I marveled at the little creation of which I was co-creator...or co, co-creator, if you throw the God into the mix. But nonetheless, my life had changed permanently. No longer could I afford to be the selfish dude who thought only of his own dreams and aspirations, now I had a little boy who needed to be raised in a stable and loving way by a father who really cared and was really there for him.  And this child had dreams of his own that I needed to help him fulfill and realise.

I marvel now, looking back to that day in December of 2005, at how much my son has grown, and how much he says (and what he says!).  Everything he does, practically, blows my mind. I'm constantly taken aback when he says something to me. I think, "Where did you hear that?" or "Where did you learn that?" I love the way his mind works, and I recognize his own unique individuality as a person, a created being. However, I also notice the physical and psychological traits that he seems to have inherited from me. It is totally cool to see him standing like me, or saying something like me, or attacking a problem in the same manner that I would. Sometimes I feel like his older twin, and sometimes (and this is really cool) I feel like I get to live the younger part of my life all over again when I do those everyday father and son things together.  We've been spending a lot of time together lately, which is really exciting.  The more days that pass, the quicker you understand just how quickly they grow up.  And it's important to make every day count.  The past is prologue to now, and I have so many activities planned.  While I have always been there for my son, and I know that the more time I spend with him the more I have a role in shaping his future, and I understand that I must make every day count.  But that's the easy part, because he makes me happier than anything else on this earth.

Well, I hope you haven't been totally bored with this little rant. Truth is, it was more for me than for you. I'm taking my kid to a T-ball game tonight, the last game of his first season to play, and afterwards I'm going to show him the pictures I posted of him on this Hub. I'm going to get to watch his face when he discovers that "he's famous." I'm going to get to be a dad tonight, and I'm going to love it. From this day forward, I'm going to enjoy being a father. And that reminds me: I need to give my own father a call. To all the lucky dads out there, I wish you well, and wish you happy father's days, for every day is a good day to be called "dad."