Chronicles Of A First Time Father

After my wife and I got married, we decided that I should do a year of graduate school and play one more year of baseball. So, even though I had people tell me it was a bad idea, we lived with her parents from January- May while I played my last season of college baseball. Lauren was not exactly thrilled at the idea of me being gone every evening for practice and gone every weekend for games, but we agreed it was going to be worth it. I was so thankful to have such a supportive spouse as we were entering a new adventure together. We knew it was going to be busy, but we also knew that come June we would get to settle down back in Georgia, where we were going to make our home. Once we got to June we could kind of settle into our life together and think about the future. Adding another little member to our family was not on our radar. In fact, we were planning on thinking about that around 2 years down the road, and wait till we were, you know, ready. However, our plans took a little bit of a detour when one evening Lauren showed me two little pink lines. She had no idea what to say, and quite frankly, neither did I. All I could do was hug her. We stood there for a couple of minutes as I hugged her, and I thought about all the ways in which I was not prepared to be a father. After a couple minutes though she looked up at me and said, “What are we gonna do?” I had no idea what we were gonna do, but I answered her by saying, “Everything is gonna be okay.”

Now here we are just a couple of months away from our baby entering this world, and I can’t help but think back to that night when Lauren showed me that positive test. Two 24-year-olds, with their world turned upside down, standing in a bathroom hugging. On that night I was telling myself that I was not ready. Fast forward to today, 5 months after that night we found out. I know I am still not fully prepared for what lies ahead, but I am ready. I am ready to meet that little guy and experience life from a whole new perspective. I know I will make lots of mistakes, but hopefully, if I write them down and post them here, then you won’t make the same mistake. Or if you have already made that mistake, then take comfort in knowing that you are not the only one. The coming months and years are no doubt going to be filled with many joys and many sorrows. Follow along with me as I prepare for the journey of fatherhood.