A friend of mine is an expecting dad. He asked me, “What it’s like to be a dad?”
“It’s world-changing,” I told him.
And then I wrote this out. I hope it makes sense.
When I’m at home, I’m a dad. But that doesn’t last long. Within minutes . . .
I get to be a sidekick to one of my favorite superheroes on the planet.
I get to be a nurse to a young surgeon (who, I’m guessing is inspired by Doc McStuffins).
I get to be a big leaguer throwing warm-up catch with a pitcher.
I get to be the deck hand to a captain who has built the ship from sheets and pillows and chairs in the living room.
I get to be an assistant to an an architect and engineer.
I get to enter a wild world where ponies save Star Wars characters from imminent peril.
I get to be a sous chef in a master kitchen.
I get to be an astronaut and an artist and a storyteller.
And that’s one of the perks of being a dad that you don’t realize until you become one. It’s world-changing, yes, but you enter new worlds that you didn’t even realize existed.
i really liked this because I had forgotten the simple joys of being a dad when your son is still a child. Being a dad when the child is in their 30’s and struggling with mental illness and substance abuse, you sometimes forget that in the not too distant past, it was really just about being there and passing baseball, or building something with Lego’s