Looking Back

The road of life takes many twists and turns. Sometimes you feel like you are going back the way you came and sometimes you feel like you have completely changed paths. Nine years ago I would have never imagined myself living in Houston with a wife and a newborn baby. Now I cannot imagine my life any other way. My path has made many changes but looking back, I would not have changed any of them. The good and the bad all happen for a reason and they are all things that help steer your path where it needs to go.

Being a parent is a funny thing. When you are first discussing the idea, there is an ideal in your head of exactly how things will go. You can picture yourself as a parent and you will not make any of the mistakes you see other parents making. You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones with the screaming kid that wants candy from the checkout at Target. One day it will all smack you in the face when you are turning bright red with embarrassment because your child desperately needs a new Bratz doll. You suddenly realize that you are "that" parent and all the young couples in the store are looking at you with the same thoughts in their head that you had just a few years back. It is the course of parenting, it is the path that is moving one way or another.

Six months into this adventure, I feel that Sheila and I are doing pretty good as a parenting team. We have a solid routine with Claire and we take time to discuss our strategies with each new challenge that we face. For example we have decided as a team to allow Claire to cry for 5 minutes in the night before we go cuddle her. It is our way of deciphering between her truly needing us and just testing our resolve. Because Claire is so little yet, the challenges have been few and far between. It has been good practice for us for when the challenges come at us in rapid succession. Hold on tight and stick together, that is all we can do.