Any day now
My wife is expecting another son. The due date was January 15, but the doctors say it could be the week after. I’m hoping he will have arrived by the time you read this.
Given the anticipation, it’s hard to talk about anything else in a meaningful manner. Knowing you have taken part in creating a new life tends to put everything else on the back burner. A $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot doesn’t compare… though I hope my cousins and friends will remember me if they get lucky.
Wondering how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will get refugees into Canada or legalize pot is just a passing fancy compared to the way an impending birth focuses one’s attention. I have a child waiting to greet the world. I can hardly wait to see him, to hold him and to feel the new life I will take responsibility for.
All else takes second place, including writing a scathing editorial about the services Cree patients aren’t receiving. That doesn’t mean it’s not an important issue that needs to be addressed. But it’s difficult to summon the outrage when, like all imminent parents, my headspace is crowded by the worries and hopes inspired by these last few days of my wife’s pregnancy. I will take the time to address the rights and wrongs of the world another day.
My family needs me just as every family member is needed at this time. I am not a Christian as I follow Native spirituality beliefs but I give credit to other religions. After all, how can we as human beings fully encompass or understand what a Creator/God really is? I think we can only see parts of creation and who or whatever made this universe come into being. However, the Bible, the Koran and the Torah all essentially agree that God created man in his own image. In my mind, that idea encompasses more than mankind but all life as we know it. We have been given the power of creation. Being part of bringing a life into being is an amazing experience.
It is one I have cherished from years back when my son Eric was born. It was given to me again when my son Hunter was born. I will be blessed once again when Declan greets the world. For a few moments I will feel the power of creation fulfilled. Sharing it with my wife, I will know such happiness and joy. It’s a sensation this new person we created will continue to bring throughout our lives.
This child, like my other sons, was conceived in love. That love I will feel it as long I live. That is who we are as parents, as family and as people. I will return to what seems like the mundane problems of the world later to acknowledge and insist on their importance. But, for now, I have one concern, one priority and an overpowering sense that this is the most important time in our life to focus on family and our creation.