Sometimes married men just don’t realize how good they’ve got it in life. Everyday living is so fine with a loving partner, green plants growing in the windows and meals that come from an oven instead of a can. Its nice waking up to clean underwear in a drawer and tubes of toothpaste you don’t have to stomp on to get something on the brush. Domesticated life with a routine gets to feel kind of warm and comforting. Then comes the moment that changes everything.

It begins the day you come home from work to find your wife dressed up in your favorite outfit. Yeah, the one that makes you all crazy when she’s barely in it and has you blushing and talking baby talk for the rest of the evening. She greets you at the door with a big hug and a kiss and then ushers you into the dinning room. The lights are dim. Soft music is playing. There is a bottle of wine chilling at the table. She pulls the chair out for you and once you’re seated, she softly kneads your shoulders. Ah, heaven...

When it happened to me I turned my head to look up into her beautiful green eyes and said, “Thank you, Angel. This is the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

“It’s not your birthday, honey.”

“Oh God, I’ve forgotten our anniversary, again.”

“Stop it, silly. Our anniversary isn’t for another three months.”

“Well, what’s going on then?”

“It’s a surprise.”

The woman of my dreams serves up the dinner of a lifetime, wearing the dress of my fantasies. This is not a routine evening. It is the perfect night I’ve always imagined with a woman. I don’t care anymore, whatever surprise she is about to spring upon me, I am ready for it. Or so I believe...

We are nestled in front of the T.V. with cups of Hazelnut coffee and dessert plates holding slices of homemade-cherry-cheese cake. Both of us are teary-eyed as we watch the movie, “Big Fish”. As the film concludes I look into the eyes of my wife and tell her, “I love you so very much.”

She throws her arms around my neck and tells me, “You are going to be the best father in the whole world.”

And in a single moment, everything changes...

I’m going to be a dad!

My wife is going to be a mother!

We are going to be parents!!

Yes, in a single moment the routine is gone.

It is so very quickly replaced by a new and sometimes scary chaos; Pregnancy.

To be continued...

Labels: anniversary, continued, married, pregnancy