I'm In Love With Someone New

Being a married man, it's dangerous for me to say I'm in love with someone new. But I am.

It's not that I don't love my wife (hi honey, I love you!)—I do. And I'm still very much in love with her.

But I am also in love with a new person.

He has no education or money, bad hair and bad eyesight, he has no control of his bladder or bowels, he has no teeth, he cries a lot and he wakes me up every night when he's hungry.

Despite all that I love him like crazy. You see, he's my new two-month-old baby boy, Danny.

I've been around friends and relatives with kids for a long time, and I've seen how they interacted with their children. I had tried to imagine myself as a father, but I had a hard time seeing it. But when Danny was born a few short months ago and I saw him and held him for the first time, it all changed in an instant.

You could say it was love at first sight.  

Being a parent is something you could imagine yourself being forever, but you can't know what it's like until you actually become one. Like making love, going to war or scuba diving, you just have to experience it for yourself.

Even while my wife was pregnant and we saw the ultrasound pictures of Danny, he was an abstraction to me. But now here he is and for me there's no greater joy than holding him, hearing him coo and watching him smile.

I work at a regular 9-to-5 job every weekday and was once known as a workaholic who worked late and worked Saturdays, regularly.

Not anymore.

Now I rush home at 5 on the nose so I can see Danny. I don't even shrink away from changing Danny's diaper; it's a chance for me to hold him and make him happy.

And he's good about showing his gratitude by smiling at me.