Homegrown Fun | 2006

I've always believed that children are best served warm. I know because I've managed to take care of two nieces and a nephew for quite a bit. Of course, those were just like babysitting and not really parenthood. But it was a good start, and it became a test bed for me and my wife before we received a gift of our own.

So we learned how to change diapers, bathe him, clothe him properly (you wouldn't believe how much trouble side-tie baby shirts are!), feed him, put him to bed and all the basic things to keep a baby alive. And those are just what they are, basic. And once you get through basic training, you find that you yearn for more, because you get rewarded for your efforts (this may vary by age, but I don't have the funds for a scientific study yet).

On the intermediate level, you get to have fun. You get to be interactive. You get to be frustrated. You get to be exhausted. You get to be a parent. It becomes so excruciatingly tiresome most of the time. There are times you just want to hang your hat and call it a day. There are times that your everyday life becomes so tangled up between work, home, friends and family that you lose your mind. And then I look at the boy. He gives me that cute little smile. A giggle, a laugh. And all of it goes back to you. Your mind becomes whole and everything makes sense. That life is a boy named Jakjak and a wife named Judy.