Personal Narrative: What It Meant To Be A Father

It took thirty-six years to understand what it means to be a father, the pride, the selflessness, and the wonder of fatherhood in a single profound moment. Before that, I had been the center of my own world. Therefore, pride was something I felt solely based on my own accomplishments. My narrow vision left me unaware and completely unprepared for the moment my world had an unexpected guest, who took up residence, and still lives there today. Before, I never understood the depths of pride that could be felt for someone else, or how full my world could truly be. The moment I knew what it meant to be a father, caught me completely by surprise, understanding how unaware I was before, and how deeply I could be affected, changing me forever. …show more content…
Her smile struck me like a blinding flash of the afternoon sun dancing playfully on the windshield. The warm air of an Arizona afternoon filled my lungs with the reluctant weight of its reassuring presence, slowly relaxing my body with contentment in this moment, just being alive, and connected to this beautiful woman, my wife, Shannon. I exhaled slowly, spilling soft words of love to her, knowing my purpose in life as her husband had made me complete. My moment of contentment was interrupted by excited words emanating from the backseat in the high pitched squeaky voice of an adolescent boy, “Are we there yet?” My wife looked away from me and quickly penning the fair-haired boy in the backseat with the same dazzling smile, reflecting his own excitement back at him with her sparkling eyes. “Almost there, now put your seatbelt on right”, she said, turning back towards the front of the car as she tossed a mischievous smile and wink at me, sharing her parental joy at her sons excitement. I caught the playful wink, and returned a small lopsided smile to her, trying to match her joy, but not really understanding the depths of joy and pride she felt for Joshua’s excitement as his mother. Having been Joshua’s dad for less than a year, I thought that being a father was a natural state that I had already achieved, but knew that sometimes that parental joy and connection eluded me. I tilted …show more content…
He started talking excitedly the moment his sandals touched the hot afternoon pavement, rapid firing questions and observations like a fully automatic machine gun. Suddenly, Joshua points excitedly and shouts, “That looks like Kayla”, and bounds off in that direction. “JOSHUA!” That one word echoing across the parking lot, propelled by a mother’s voice, was not to be denied, and was recognized by her offspring immediately. Joshua never really came to a complete stop, performing more of an abrupt about face that left his sandals confused, and glued to the spot waiting for comprehension of what was happening, as he reluctantly returned to my wife, drawn by the unseen lasso of her commanding voice. This was an example of the undeniable truth that every other male in the parking lot already knew, resistance is futile when you get the “mommy voice”, it does not matter how old you are. Joshua never really stopped talking as she straightened his white karate gi; confirming to herself the newly purchased brown t-shirt that peeked from beneath the gi was up to her fashion standards. As I was pulling Joshua’s gear bag out of the back of the car, enjoying this moment with some amusement, I glanced at Joshua’s feet just to reassure myself that his confused sandals had indeed returned to the car with