Hostages to Fortune

They say that when a child is born, so is a parent. I have watched my First Born and his Beloved undergoing this radical transformation. With six weeks to go until B day, Baby Sume has already reshaped the people that are becoming his parents. The car seat is ready. The crib is assembled. Conversations these days tend to revolve around child-rearing theories and the best brand of diapers.

Over the weekend, my gravid daughter-of-the-heart was showered with baby gifts: hand sewn blankets so fuzzy and inviting I immediately wanted a nap, impossibly tiny baby socks, all the latest baby gear and tools, books, and toys.

Served along with Great-Grandma Grethe’s multi-tiered, melt-in-your-mouth carrot cake was the opportunity for the party guests to offer their best time-tested parenting advice. So much to say and such a small piece of paper on which to offer it. Where do you even start?

“To have a child,” Elizabeth Stone wrote, “...is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” I think every parent can relate to that feeling of tender vulnerability, the terrible joy exposed; pride and fear and celebration at war with one another as we watch them take their first steps.

We have given hostages to Fortune, and worry for their future—will the other kids at preschool be kind? Is college hazing still a thing? Should I worry more about the national debt and the imperviousness of plastic? What SPF is enough? 30? 50? 125? Is my car safe enough, is my house safe enough, is my neighborhood safe enough? What about the school district? Clearly, I need to move. My child needs a yard, and a best friend and a great art/science/sport/math program. And probably a dog. Pony? Goldfish?

Because we love our children, we would move heaven and earth for their happiness, walk on hot coals to ensure their safety---even drive a mini-van if that’s what was required of us. That’s our job. It is what parents do. It’s the universality of Love. We see it reflected in current events, we see it in our own families and I am awed at the transformative force. 

When a child is born, so are the parents.

AND the grandparents---anybody know where I can get a pony?