On Becoming "Dad"

Yes it is a strange thing indeed, more strange than being called "mister" for the first time, more strange than hearing someone say the two words "Anjuli" and "Paschall" together. It is a strange thing to look at the word "dad" as a referent to myself. Father doesn't quite sound right, it sounds like something on a government document or something people say at country clubs who have just finished Perrier and have a Ralph Lauren sweater wrapped around their necks (it makes me wonder why we call God "Father" but not "dad"). But "dad," it feels warm and strong, it is word so full of life and love. Now it refers to me... almost. Manoah is due in less than two days, and within the next week I will hold my precious little boy in my arms and experience a part of my heart that has been dormant since I was concieved. I will live and love in completely new ways... And it all feels curiously strange (kind of like altoids are 'curiously strong'). I am sitting next to my bride who is carrying my son and it feels beautiful. It's funny how the most natural thing in the world (child birth) feels so transcendant, unfamiliar, and almost unnatural. I could perhaps write a novel on my thoughts on the word "dad" but suffice it to say that it is a word, from the earliest stages of a childs life, that expresses his or her most fundamental connections, it is a word that changes very little from when you are two until you are seventy-two, it is a word whose meaning is utterly basic, which our very hearts cry out, by the Spirit "abba...dada...dad." Yes it is a strange and beautiful word.