Father's Day

I've thought about the making of a family. As a woman, I know how it changed me. I know what I've felt - the wondrous and the not-s0-wondrous throughout the process of my becoming a mother. And I've been lucky enough to have a seat up front watching my husband become a father. I say lucky, because he's been the best show in town. He began without a clue. Having been around no babies aside from his little brother, he had no clue how to hold a baby, what on earth went on with babies....it was as if he was moving to an other planet. Our first baby was a premie. And I became quite ill after his birth. Lar was plopped on that other planet with a sick wife unable to care for a just about 5 1/2 lb colicky crying tiny red person who just fit in his father's hand. And no help.
I've written this for him:

The mystery that excluded him as a seed took root and grew.

the glorious frightening changes in the one he'd come to know,

the mind numbing exchanges in words with no connection,

his whole world changed in one moment of conception.

The fear, wonder, enrapturing,

the miracle before his eye's camera capturing

The newness of the thing called "love"

more exactly called "pain"

chest expanding, heart rendering all this to attain

This thing called Fatherhood.

My God, the changes I've seen in the man. Those strong hands that only knew about throwing balls, tackling opponents, driving nails, became the hands of a care giver, a diaper changer, a boo-boo mender, a cheek toucher, a baby lifter....beautiful hands that sometimes make my eyes tear to look at.

And more, so much more than he knows, his heart has grown so big....his love flows out over our family, and over others....he has been made so much more by the presence of his sons, and their wives and their children.

Larry you are everything it means to be a Father.

I love you.

Happy Father's Day.