Happy Father's Day!
Brittany reached over and gently tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I think it is time.”
It was midnight and I had been asleep for an hour, so it took me a couple of seconds to realize what she meant. When it hit me, I bolted upright and a thousand action steps flew through my mind all at once. I got dressed, put shoes on, and stood with car keys in hand in five seconds flat. I looked at Brit and she was still lying in bed and breathing weird.
The baby was coming. Her contractions were strong and close together. We tried to stay calm and get her comfortable, but ha ha, all attempts failed. From our bed to the couch. To the bathtub. Back to the bed, it was misery. So, I called the triage nurse and she told us to come to the hospital.
We got in my little pick up truck and drove the dark, peaceful streets. We checked in at the hospital and found out Brit was 9 centimeters dilated! The nurse snapped to life and rushed us to the delivery room and, a few hours later our baby girl was born.
We had heard stories about pregnancy, labor and delivery. We had seen the living proof that the stories were true. And now we had walked the road with our own feet and seen it with our own eyes. It was wild and amazing and exhausting.
Now I am a 39-year-old father of three daughters, ages 11, 7, and 5. The life paradigm I received by being raised in a family of three boys has been completely turned on its head. My “three-daughter life” is constantly exploding with color and emotion and talking. I love it. But there really is a lot of talking. I am not particularly good at knowing and understanding daughters, but I really do love it. I plan on not loving it as much between the teenage years of liking boys to the day I pay for their weddings. But after that, and for now, I love it.
So, happy Father's Day to me. And Happy Father's Day to all of you courageous men who, like me, are trying not to mess up their kids too badly. God be with us and give us energy.
This Sunday morning we will be hearing a message about our glorious Father, and every dad will get a bottle of ice cold Dad's Root Beer.
David