Whenever someone asks me what it’s like being a father, I always give the same response. I tell them, “It is awesome! It is simply the best thing in the world… as long as you are ready for it.” (My answer may have differed on days when my infant son pissed in my face while changing his diaper).
Being “ready for it” may not be as simple as it sounds. Over the past 11 years, I have started to get an understanding of just exactly what “being ready for it” entails. I say that I have started to get an understanding because my kids aren’t teenagers yet. I still have no idea if I’m ready for that… or if anyone ever can be.
I waited until I was 33 to become a parent because I knew I wasn’t ready before that. Why? I still wanted to have a completely different kind of fun. I wanted to go to clubs twice a week, and go out drinking with my friends, and play video games until 7:00 AM before going to sleep for the day. I wanted to go to every movie that even slightly interested me, go out to dinner at restaurants without crayons and kiddie menus, and swear as much as I wanted at my television and the stupid referees and players who inhabited it.
So what is it like being a dad? Well you see…