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Welcome home
November 24th, 2008 Posted in Snapshots of LifeWhen he hears the jingle of my keys as I come into the house, Isaiah drops whatever he is doing and comes thumping along on his stubby feet, half crying and half laughing his name for me, which is “Daa.” I pick him up, he wraps his short arms around my neck, rests his head on my shoulder, and goes, “Mmmmm.” He makes this noise over and over, like I am a warm bath, or a piece of candy, or maybe just a song with which he is harmonizing. Then the other boys crowd around, stepping on my toes, snuggling up close, grabbing hold like I am the tree of life. They have this completely backwards, because it is they who are life, but when this happens I wonder how heaven can be any better.
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5 Responses to “Welcome home”
By Simpson Snail
on Nov 26, 2008
If you have never been right about anything else in your life, your are right about this. I feel the same way when I am rocking my toddler and he falls asleep in my arms and I can feel and smell his sleeping toddler breath.
By skyweaver
on Nov 27, 2008
This was a lovely, lovely bit of writing. Happy Thanksgiving from another parent who knows what you mean.
By steve
on Nov 27, 2008
I’m 68. I have no children and never will. This is a hole in my life and my Thanksgiving.
By PatricktheRogue
on Dec 1, 2008
I am 39. I never had a great desire for kids. I never even thought about it. But now, because of my 3 year old girl and two year old boy, I know this post is so true. These small events are the truest moments in life. They are real, even hyper real moments, so real and so warm and so joyous that it actually aches.
I don’t know about the other parents here, but I never fully feel the joy of fatherhood without also the slightest pang of the deep deep sorrow that would be the counter to that feeling if something bad were to happen… to them, or to me, or to their mother. I think maybe it is such a profound joy it cannot exist without the shadow of its opposite lurking just over the other side. All of a sudden with the addition of two little people in my house, I am tied to an uncertain future of worry and toil in a way I never was before, but I also look forward to so many great moments I never anticipated. For that I give thanks.