That yearly reminder…
Every year this pops up on my memories. It’s the same every year and today was no different. It’s usually a busy day with us getting things ready for my daughter’s birthday, and I get a notification of a “on this day” memory. It hits me like a ton of bricks and stops me dead in my tracks. Today I was in the car with my wife, talking and laughing, and I get the notification. I look and see that picture. I say, “Oh no…Man, every year…”. I show her the picture and it takes everything in me to not start crying.
But why? It’s been eleven years. Why does this picture have such an impact every year before my daughter’s birthday?
It’s the guy in the picture! We had just hit 27 weeks and had been to our doctor’s just four days earlier. Everything looked great. We were shopping for items to register for our baby shower. We were so happy and excited. The guy in the picture has absolutely no clue that his world is going to be forever changed in just a matter of hours. He has no idea of the hell he is going to be put through. He doesn’t know the weight that he is going to carry for the next several months and even years. I can’t describe the sadness I feel for the guy in the picture.
But just like what I tell all new NICU dads, he IS going to make it. There IS light at the end of the tunnel. He will see that once you make it through the NICU, there is not much that you can’t do!
Share this:
