Dear Michael,
With the immediacy of your wife's problems and the demands of a new baby, your needs would certainly have shoved aside for quite a while, which would have added even more personal stress. It says a great deal about you that you accepted such an incredible amout of the burden. I know you would say you had no choice, but of course, you did. I'm filled with admiration for you. Even normal new parent situations make such huge adjustments necessary for fathers- in a way they lose their loving wife for a time, they have the added financial responsibility and the realization that it's a permanent one, their home is now totally out of their control and at the mercy of a despotic ruler who can't talk, walk, or be reasoned with-and to whom their loved one has pledged complete allegiance.
Just because people are ready for a family, does not mean they know what is about to happen to their lives! As happy as Dan and I were, as much as we wanted babies, there were certainly some surprises. But the rewards are so immense, the joys so great that we can't conceive of our lives without our children. And I envy Alex just starting out on that wonderful journey while I see the ending approach. I'm sure your daughter is worth it all. |
