A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled onto an NPR YouTube video, “‘Weird Al’ Yankovic on ditching architecture for music, fatherhood, and staying weird.
At about 7:15, he talked about daydreaming about his daughter’s childhood, showing her old pictures on his phone – “Remember this when you were eight?” I THINK I try not to do that too much, although I do wonder what she remembers when she was younger.
Rachel Martin asked,” Did you always know you wanted to be a parent?” He said that, honestly, no. But he got married in his late thirties and became a dad to Nina in his early forties. Now, “I wouldn’t have it any other way”.
I’m feeling essentially the same, although I first became a dad in my early fifties. There were times in the early 1990s when I hoped it would happen, but it didn’t. And I was okay with it. It wasn’t meant to be.
Besides, I had nieces. I babysat some of my friends’ kids. But having your own kid was a different animal. For me, it mainly was hoping I didn’t screw her up too badly.
My father believed in corporal punishment. Well, we’re not going to do THAT. But I didn’t want to spoil her either.
Many different persons
Al talked about remembering her at different ages, and I do with my child, hopefully not wallowing in it. It seemed, at least at church, that she initially gravitated towards the older kids, then later took care of the younger ones.
I recall that she went through phases of ballet, soccer, and playing the clarinet. None of these “stuck,” but I think they were all useful. She was, as one commenter said about Al’s recollection and a high school play he saw, being “a different lovely person at each age of her life so far.” It is “how one can be almost entirely different personalities, and how each of those stages of life is still a part of her, whether she barely consciously remembers them or not.”
Happy Father’s Day.
Chris wants to know: