Fatherhood Folklore and Urban Myths – What’s True?

This past weekend my wife, Lisa, celebrated two wonderful baby shower events with friends and family who blessed us with an insurmountable number of gifts to prep for Annabelle’s arrival. Thank you to everyone who contributed to these two delightful occasions!   

Let me tell you what I found out through these experiences – many will provide an opinion and advice on how to raise a baby in a thousand different ways with a thousand methods on how to do every single action, however some close friends and family members offer this information in love.

Occasionally I still hear individuals contribute the old southern sayings of “ball and chain” and life, as we know it, “coming to an end,” as if having a child is some grand tragedy. In my world, it seems that some couples take these mottos to heart. I think some individuals truly fail to realize how these negative phrases might influence new parents and their own nervous feelings before a baby is delivered as a newborn beautiful creation of God.

While reorganizing some budgetary monthly decisions, I recently met Jared, a manager for the local Regions bank branch in Franklin, Tennessee and a proud father of two children. Last year Jared took both his kids, less than five years old, to Iceland, where they climbed glaciers together as a family. He is also currently planning a trip to Argentina where I would imagine some of the same adventures will occur. Honestly, I feel sorry for the parents who truly think kids become a burden that then ends their passions, dreams, and goals. Annabelle will not be the reason I quit on my adventures. She will be the reason I strive for them. She is not the end of my life. She is a new beginning.  

Like I said before, everyone these days has an opinion about something. I hope that Annabelle does not end my desired destinations but rather gives me one more precious person to share them with. First adventure before birth, we are moving to Knoxville, Tennessee, where we will cheer on our new hometown team, the Tennessee Volunteers. Close by with summits to climb and forests to explore, The Great Smokey Mountains National Park and Appalachian Trail are calling our names! And together to search those very same mountains, rivers, and trails, we must go!