I understand it. Probably my only ‘real fear’ in life.
When you become a dad, you experience a whole new form of love. You feel it when you see their smiles, hear their laughter, or get a hug from them. When they fall asleep on top of you. When they play together or do something sweet for someone else. When you just sit there watching them have fun with your wife, their mom.
You don’t want any of it to ever end.
And that’s probably my only genuine deep fear in life. Because it will end. They won’t stay little forever. They won’t need you the way they need you now. And one day you’ll be gone too. And one day, nobody will even remember these moments.
It scares the hell out of me. And there’s no solution.
Whenever this fear hits me, I remind myself to be there in every moment. To have that extra patience to actually enjoy everything.
And when I finish reading that bedtime book, even though im tired as well, and they ask for one more I read that extra book or read another chapter.
I sometimes find myself looking through old videos of my daughter with tears in my eyes and realise how quickly she’s growing up. The time goes so quick. Too quick. I almost want to press pause and just be here in this moment now and forever.
I don’t know about other fathers but the whole thing is quite emotional for me. I didn’t cry for years before having children and now it’s a regular occurrence. Tears of joy, nostalgia, grieving each process of them growing into a new person and leaving a little bit of innocence of their old self as they learn new things and develop. They just fill me with so much joy. I can’t describe the feeling. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before and I absolutely love every second of it. Being a parent is such a blessing man.