My Awakening

I am a father.  I have been a father for 4 days and 30 minutes.  It is already the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me.

Two things about this you’ll possibly notice right away:

1. I’m not overly forthcoming on details
2. There are no pictures

Let me cover these straightaway.  Our son is the most precious thing in the world (to us.)  Our only job right now is to provide for him and to protect him.  The world is a scary place, and so is the Internet.  So while I’ve spent my adult life oversharing my own details on the Internet, I will not be continuing that trend with our son.  He deserves a say in how public, how documented, and how shared his life is.  Since he’s a little young for developing opinions on such complicated and nuanced matters, we’re erring on the side of caution.

So there ARE details.  And there ARE photos.  But they will not really be centralized.  And they will not really be preserved.  Now, with all that out of the way, let’s talk about this amazing boy.

Bodhi

Bodhi is an old Sanskrit word that means Awakening.  Buddhists like it, and have used it to mean enlightenment, but we’re not trying to say the kid will ever reach that.  (Kissing his left big toe will help you attain it, though.)  The bodhi tree is the tree under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.  So that’s nice.

The reason we chose the name is because he was conceived shortly before we saw His Holiness, The Dalai Lama speak in L.A.  It was an auspicious trip, you might say.  Since then, though, the name has taken on more meaning.  This child has (understandably) become my awakening.  I wasn’t really asleep at the wheel to begin with or anything, but my eyes are open even wider now.

I’ve Realized A Few Things

1. I’m a little out of shape.  Seriously.  If my wife can go through a couple DAYS of labor, birth an actual human being, and be LESS sore and LESS exhausted than me at the end of it all, SOMETHING IS WRONG.  I need to get off my ass, step away from the computer (he types) and DO SOMETHING.  So I signed up for a 4K run on July 4th.  That Avery Brewing Company is a sponsor didn’t hurt.
2. Humans are perfect.  I used to think we were a total mess, but we aren’t.  We’re amazing creatures.  We just spend too much time acting like we’re not.  Don’t be deceived!  It’s only a show!
3. Perfect Things are Flawed.  What makes them perfect is their constant improvement.  Times change, and flawless things acquire flaws as they age.  EVERYTHING ages, so it’s bound to happen.  Perfection is also relative.  So they only thing that really counts for anything is constant improvement.  And we’re doing that.
4. Everything is going to work out fine.  I’m optimistic that the things we do wrong are faster than evolution.  We’ve had automobiles for over a century and still haven’t evolved any adaptations that help us drive.  We’ve had plastic even less time than that.  Evolution is our attempt at constant improvement, and it takes time.  These intermediate failures cannot interrupt that overall advancement.  We just need to avoid killing ourselves off, and I honestly think it will all work out.
5. Babies are easy.  They want to do 5 things: Eat, be comfortable, sleep, be loved, and learn.  If any of those 4 are imapired, they will cry.  They DO NOT want to cry, though.  They want to eat, be comfortable, sleep, be loved, and learn.  I’m not sure in what order, or if it’s random, but it doesn’t matter.  They will let you know when you’re failing them on one of these.  And they’re all surprisingly easy to take care of (except for the eating part.  I can’t do anything for him, there.)  4 out of 5 is pretty solid, though.

Our Son Is Completely Perfect

Seriously.  I don’t know where he got this skill at such a young age, but he can manipulate genes.  He clearly chose the best features from his parents, and has created a supercreature of adorableness.  On the one hand, I’m biased.  On the other hand, I don’t think babies are actually all that cute.  It’s a rare one that surprises me.  On this one, my bias totally wins.  Our son is completely perfect.

When I say he chose the best, I mean mostly from his mother.  Her hair, her eyes, her lips, her nails.  But he did take my ears (his only fail) and my size.  You know how cubs have giant paws?  Big cats (like tigers) and bear cubs have massive paws.  So do the puppies of large dog breeds.  You can tell by their feet that they’re going to get big.  Bodhi’s feet fill his 3-6 month sleeper, but his legs and arms don’t nearly fill the length of them.  It’s hilarious and adorable.  His feet are literally the same length as his shin bone.  Is that normal for babies?  I don’t think so.  I sure as heck know it’s not the case for adults!  We would look ridiculous!  Bodhi, though, just looks like he’s going to be tall.  Like his dad.

It is so cliché and so true to say that I have never been more blissfully happy in all my life.