In a classic "be careful of what you ask for", today I'm proud to say that I'm the father of four. First came Jack back in 2000; Will was added late in 2002; My princess, Emma, graced us in 2006 and just three weeks ago, we added our final piece to the puzzle that is my family.
Names are so important. There is such responsibility in naming a child. That name will help them define who they are, forever. There have been studies which demonstrate the power of names -- like the one suggesting the kids with names beginning with A's and B's tend to get better grades than kids with names starting with C's and D's. http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2009/02/02/does-your-name-spell-success/. (My name starts with a C and...oh, never mind).
Three weeks ago, my wife labored for several hours to deliver our newest little guy. And after all her hard work, the culmination of nearly ten months worth of growth and development, my favorite moment was upon us. We needed to name our new baby. As with all our previous children, we entered the delivery room with two viable names. Since baby #1, we agreed to never name one of our kids until we meet him face to face, but we've always come armed with two names, hoping one would fit our little guy's personality.
A decade ago (and still true today), Jack was clearly a Jack. Will left no doubt as to being a Will. Emma almost demanded her name. However, for the first time, when we met our baby, it could have gone either way. He looked like both names.
Three hours. Three torturous hours. Perhaps that's insensitive, considering that my wife had just been through a grueling labor and managed to push a a real, live human being out of her body, but truth be told, the three hours post-labor were tough on me.
Ultimately, Sam told us he was Sam. But just as he did with his birthing date (Sam was a week late), Sam took his time in notifying us of his intentions with his new name. When I look back now, of course I know he's Sam. But in the moment, torture.
I mention this story because I, moments ago, named this blog "Dadocity". I had an inkling that I'd like to start a blog about "dad" experiences, but the name just wasn't there. And, in fact, I really don't want this blog to just be about me and my family. I'm hoping to have many, many dads join in and celebrate their families and experiences. Dads of newborns, dads of tweens, dads of teens, single dads, step-dads -- I want this to be a place to share experiences and lessons of being a dad. On occasion, I'd like to get some of these dads together for an in-depth discussion of being a dad in some sort of interview form. Really, ultimately, I'm hoping this blog celebrates the experiences of that is "dad".
And so, the torture began yet again. Naming the blog was arduous. In the end, I think Dadocity gives a sense of community and a sense of fun. I'm hoping both those virtues will be present on this blog. I also hope we have some more serious conversations, as warranted. I'm looking forward to reading as much as I am writing.
So, welcome to Dadocity, Day 1. In the future, I hope to have a lot more "stuff" on this site. I'm a neophyte with Blogger, so please try to be patient with me. I hope to add features and gadgets as I figure them out (I mean that literally - this "gadget" concept is completely outside my techie comfort zone). Suggestions are always welcomed and encouraged. I'll be posting no more than a couple times a week. And I'll work on keeping the posts shorter and relevant. Moreover, I'm hoping to have an army of dads who will also post a few times a week. And together, Dadocity will be a site with lots of new content on a daily basis.
Thanks for stopping by today. I'm looking forward to watching this community grow.
Nicely done sir. I feel honored that I am the first to comment Craig. I do think names are an important piece to the formation of their self esteem. Like you, my boys have traditional, hard sounding names...Joseph and Daniel. I just hope the grades thing can be proven wrong.
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