Another Undescovered Country

There are a large number of imaginary poles that divide humanity: Man / Woman, homosexual / heterosexual, conservative / liberal. When we learn that we are about to cross the border between non-parent / parent we tend to assume that our lives will continue much as they have done. Oh yes, we tell people that we know that things are going to change and joke about future sleep deprivation and smelly nappies, confident that ultimately we’re going to be the same person post parenthood as we were pre. To be fair maybe some people do anticipate that things will never be the same, but I know I didn’t.

I didn’t anticipate the feeling that my heart would explode if I felt even a gram more love for my child, only to have my emotions quadruple every time she takes each tiny step into adulthood. I didn’t anticipate the complete loss of my previous agendas, and the certain knowledge that I had found my meaning in life. I didn’t anticipate that I would no longer be able to watch a film where a child was placed in the remotest of danger without feeling physically sick with anxiety.

Paul and Becky have discovered they are pregnant. They remind me of Kerry and I in many respects (aside from we’re much better looking obviously), and I’m very confident that they will make wonderful parents. They’re kind and intelligent, funny and sociable, and Paul lends me comics, which is always good. I really don’t want to sound an arse when I say they don’t know how good it’s going to get from here on, but they probably don’t. But they’re going to have a great time finding out.

Congratulations guys.

Paul has started a blog to record the journey. My blog doesn’t exactly have a readership of hundreds but if anyone fancies popping over there and writing a few words of encouragement in his comments I’m sure it would be appreciated. I’m fairly convinced that I wouldn’t have got past one or two entries on this blog if it weren’t for a few nice comments from Greg and Deb.