This picture was taken at Dominion Arboretum on Canada Day 2021.
Today when I look back, holding my baby boy, it feels like only yesterday when I saw my wife overcome with joy as she shared the positive pregnancy test results with me. Finally, “we were pregnant,” after all the planning and effort. Phew! I did not know how to react, but I became a father the moment I heard the news. It can be daunting for men because we don’t have those pregnancy hormones playing up. I was delighted but did not know how to express it as my wife did. Pregnancy is beautiful, and women are fortunate to feel them from the time they conceive. They are connected so deeply; it’s amusing. Let’s not talk about the morning sickness, nausea, hunger pangs, etc. When there is a life-generating within you, your body does take time to prepare itself. I did not have the privilege of experiencing all that in those nine months, but everything came like a wrecking ball when Dr. Lynn Shepherd pulled our boy out. I know it sounds graphic, but it was indeed a pull. A messy little baby boy, covered in slime and crying loudly, “Waah, Waah.” The next thing I remember is me welling up with tears. It was like an epiphany and the sheer joy of seeing a blessing in the form of our baby boy.
Parenthood is a blessing—the ability to nurture life, so delicate and dependent, and see it grow and change every day. Your world changes completely, but it’s a positive change. Yes, you will be tired, sleep-deprived, and tired again, but the joy and satisfaction of holding your baby will nullify all your troubles. Your baby’s first smile and giggles will take all your pain away.
After you birth a child, only then do you truly realize how much your parents love you, how much they may have sacrificed, and how much you mean to them. You also learn how much you love them too. Being a Dad, it also made me think retrospectively about being someone’s child. As you grow older, your parents age along with you, but it’s different for them. They become more vulnerable, childlike. They start looking up to you, start listening to you more, and seek your advice on many things. As your parents grow older, they need care and attention. It’s a role reversal. It’s something that doesn’t seem apparent immediately. They start acting like kids, and we constantly have to be behind their backs for something so petty as eating food on time. Making sure they take their medicine regularly and checking if they slept well. You make sure they are comfortable and that they have everything they need and want. You call them every day if you live far away from them because you miss them as much as they miss you.
Parenthood does not start with a child; that innate ability to nurture comes with anything. People only relate parenthood with a child, but that’s not the case. You don’t have to be a parent or birth a child to love or nurture someone, something. You can equally feel the same love and affection for any child or a being because love comes from within.