I'm Becoming My Dad, Singed Eyebrows and All

As I look back through my childhood and think of some of my favorite memories, there is a look on my dad's face that I can distinctly remember. He always looked like he had just stuck his finger in a light socket. My dad was never the most graceful of men, a fact which we as a family blamed on him being left handed, lol. (No offense to you left handed folks) It was a noticeable surprised or frazzled look that seemed to run across his face for most of my childhood. Now excluding those three times during home repairs my father actually did electrocute himself, I never quite understood why he always looked frazzled...until now. I'm becoming my dad, singed eyebrows and all.  

Why was my dad always so frazzled, and seemingly caught off guard all the time? The short answer is, because he had four boys, and the long answer is because he had FOUR BOYS! You see I come from a bit of a blended family. Both of my parents were previously married and had a son with their exes and then they got married and adopted each others' kid as their own. Then twelve years later I came along and a year after that my baby brother. So just as my parents were sending two of their teens off to college their other two kids were just starting elementary school. Now I don't know from experience just yet as my little guys is just four weeks old, but what I've heard from my parents, friends, TV, movies, and just about everything else is that raising a teen is hard work. So that must mean raising two teens is even more difficult, and raising two while also trying to raise two babies is near impossible. I can remember growing up trying to surprise my dad along with my partner in crime, my younger brother Justin. Now we weren't the most nefarious of kids, but from time to time we would try to scare, beat up, wear down, or prank our dad. We thought it was the greatest pass time ever. Throw into the mix that my father worked a hard job at a factory most of my childhood, often leaving the house before daybreak, working overtime, and still pretended to have the energy to play with us when he got home and his surprised looks and fatigue starts to make a whole lot more sense. 

My dad was and still is a great father. But the great thing about having good parents is that they want us to grow and learn from their mistakes so we have better lives than what they have. Every good parent wants better for their children. There are lots of great qualities I'd love to emulate from my father as I start my own family. However there are things that I know I'd like to try differently, simple goofy mistakes my dad made that aren't even worth thinking about. The idea was for me to not have that frazzled look my father had, to be a little more prepared, even for the unexpected. So with planning, preparation, and a little more "perceived wisdom" I began they legendary journey that is fatherhood. And I felt SO prepared for fatherhood...until I actually became a father. And now those frazzled looks and simple mistakes make a whole lot more sense. And I'm making them.

So let me give you just one of several examples that have already occurred in my baby boys short four weeks of life so far. As I mentioned before my dad seemed to be a pro at not being a pro, that is to say my dad had an uncanny knack for making silly mistakes. It's these types of mistakes I find creeping into my life now that my boy is in the picture. So a few weeks ago after getting home from the hospital I realized I needed to mow my yard. It's not a large yard and is not a very difficult task. As I was filling up the push mower my wife popped out of the garage with the baby. She was simply bringing him outside walking around the yard enjoying the nice day. I left the mower walked over and held the baby and talked with my wife a minute before heading back to the mower and started mowing. As I finished the first lap around my front yard I noticed my legs were wet. Baffled I continued pushing forward another couple of feet until I realized that I had left the gas cap off of the mower and it had been spraying out the entire time. Now I'm not necessarily what you'd call a "handy guy" but screwing a gas cap on is certainly in my skill set. So why on earth did I turn into an idiot who forgot to screw on a gas cap? The short answer is I have a newborn and the long answer is I have a NEWBORN! Being a father is a whirlwind of little sleep, long hours, hard work, and just doing the best you can, silly mistakes, frazzled looks and all. And Now I know why my dad drank two pots of coffee a day.