He completed four! Time flies. Not sure how the four years passed by so quickly. It has been one heck of a journey.
I still remember that day he was born, like it was yesterday. I tried that day to be as calm as possible. The friends who were with me on that day, though, immediately knew I was nervous. Wifey went into labour in the wee hours of the morning, and the fellow came into the world quite early in the morning. From that day till today, he has always been quick-footed. Perhaps he kicked his way out of his mother's womb.
I wasn't ready for him. I always thought it was going to be a girl. I wanted a girl. Badly! Somehow, the inner me was convinced about the girl. We, stupidly enough, had a name ready only for a girl. I told you, I wasn't ready for him. We weren't ready for him.
They handed me the baby first. I held onto the baby, like it was my everything. "Yenna kuzhanthai, sollunga (Please tell what baby is it?), the nurse who handed the bundle to me asked. Then it hit me. It is a boy! BOY! "Wait! What! How did this happen? I mean, I am not ready for this," my mind ran amok. To worsen matters, he looked exactly like me. It almost feels like I see myself in him every time, and that's scary.
The maze my life had been till then, suddenly had a spanner thrown at it. Another life to think about and take care of. A life full of energy. The legs of his, I tell you, never stop running and jumping. He jumps, he climbs, and he runs behind a ball. That is all he wants. To run behind any ball. Yesterday he had four balls in his hands at 9PM bedtime, and he wants to sleep carrying em all in his hands. My wife often says boys are crazy; I never understood it till I saw this replica of myself in flesh and in blood.
My joy, and my sorrow, my laughter, my anger, my victories, my failures, my hopes, my fears, my anxieties, and my peace, everything my life had been in the last four years had been the boy!
I have heard people say one will have to have a girl to feel fatherhood! And now that I have a girl as well, I perhaps understand that statement better.
But have a boy, I say, and you will feel craziness and adventure.
Happy birthday, little 'K'. Here is to many more years of a life of adventure and running behind those round objects called balls.
The boy and his adventure toys.
.jpeg)
