The Daddy Diaries - Father's Day Suprise

I recently received the greatest gift a man can ever hope to be given. Of course, like most great gifts, it was something that I truly wanted, yet I was complete surprised when it happened.

This past Father’s Day I laid in bed trying to muster the strength to get ready for church service when my two year-old Labrador Retriever burst into the room armed with a wagging tail and a wet tongue. My wife strolled in just steps behind and took a seat on the bed as I fought off my excited assailant.

Just a week earlier I told my wife that I didn’t want a gift such as some silly t-shirt that read “Proud Puppy Parent” much like the gift I gave her on Mother’s Day. Yet, there she sat, smiling and presenting a card, presumably from my loveably terrible pound puppy. I began reading the personal note on the inside of the card when my eyes suddenly locked onto the word, “baby.” I’ve never re-read an entire letter so quickly. But when I did, it confirmed that I would soon be a father.

Any first time father-to-be can attest to the overwhelming sense of joy and fear that swirls through the mind when learning that his mate is pregnant. After attempting to digest the news, I gave my wife a hug and told said “congratulations honey.” I have since been told that you should not congratulate a spouse when she says that she is pregnant – it makes her feel as if she’s the only one who bares this new responsibility.

Convinced that this is just the first of many mistakes that I will make over the next few months, I decided to pick up a few pregnancy books and read the two and a half pages in each book devoted to fathers. Of course it would be great if there was a book for dad’s titled “The guide for guys who are overwhelmed at the thought of being a father.” But since I haven’t seen that one in the book store, I picked up 'Being a Great Dad for Dummies'.

This Father’s Day was an amazing surprise. But I hope next year’s will be just amazing.

By D Graham Curry

Graham is a communications professional from Nashville, TN USA. He graduated from Howard University in Washington DC, where he studied journalism and advertising before embarking upon a career that would take him from blogging, to music management and now to corporate communications. He and his wife Lovette, share a home with their black Lab, Dodger, and they eagerly await the February 2012 birth of their first child.