Something Beginning With Socks

When my husband and I had been married just over a year, we got a kitten. We jokingly called it our trial run at parenthood. We went to a friend’s house where a new litter of kittens was causing mayhem and my husband sat in an armchair watching the chaos unfold in front of him. A bundle of white fluff tumbled across the floor mewing loudly, multiple limbs swiping randomly at the mother cat as she attempted to walk away from the constant assault on her. And then one of the little fur balls detached itself from the group and scrambled up his trouser leg, bypassed his lap, and settled knowingly on his left arm. Within minutes, the kitten was asleep, and my husband was sold. He still maintains that our soon-to-be 14-year-old cat claimed him.

After a year of being perfectly responsible pet owners, we decided to give parenting a go for real. There were many nieces on my side of the family, all of whom latched onto my husband in the same way our kitten did, earning him the title of the Pied Piper. Wherever he went, the children followed. It was difficult to work out who had more fun – our nieces or him! I had a feeling he was going to be a great dad.

Pregnancy wasn’t an easy ride for us, but everything we went through to become parents was worth it when our first daughter was born. She cried, I cried, he cried, we all cried together! Through the tears, we managed to splutter out our eternal thanks to the incredible doctor who had helped us on our path to parenthood and came in on her day off to deliver our baby. And then the fun began.

We were like a kid with a new toy, except our new toy was a kid, and we’d made her! We were living in the US at the time, and so my husband got to stay with me in the hospital for five days as our daughter was delivered by an emergency c-section. During that time, I watched my husband become a father. I never knew someone could be filled with so much joy at having his hand filled with poop due to a mistimed diaper change. For someone who couldn’t watch while I had pain relief shots during labor without fear of passing out, nothing deterred him from looking after our new arrival. Every squeak she made, he coo’d right back at her. He marveled at each tiny toe and watched her every move. She could do no wrong. When we left the hospital and headed out into the real world, he loaded his precious cargo into the car-seat for her first trip home.

When our second daughter came along it was a different situation altogether. Same emergency c-section scenario, but this time in England. There was no private room, but even if there had been, there would have been no extra bed for my husband. He was at home with our two-year-old, who was more interested in going to the indoor playground than coming to meet her new sister. While I looked after our newborn, he took over toddler group duty. His immune system was under attack and in a single week he got a cough, a cold, and an eye infection!

Now our eldest is almost a teenager and (with the exception of a pandemic) trips in the car are part of every-day life– usually taking her or her younger sister to one of their activities. Last year, my husband got laid off from the company where he’d worked for many years and found himself between jobs for several months. He spent every minute the girls were at school job hunting and became a full-time dad when they were around. If he had the chance, he’d willingly take this role. A lot of people say that, but not many actually mean it. I think he does.

Being a dad doesn’t come naturally to all men in the same way being a mum doesn’t suit all women. Our girls got lucky. Today we’ll be celebrating their dad with a few surprises – including the obligatory Father’s Day socks. Ever since our youngest handed him a wrapped present a few years back and told him, “Daddy, you’ll love this one. It’s something beginning with ssss,” but instead of pausing there, she blurted out the word “socks!” It’s become a standing joke that, on every occasion, Daddy gets ssss…socks!

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads and other father figures out there, not least of all my own dad who will probably be celebrating his day sitting by an English riverbank with a nice cold beer while waiting for the fish to bite. Cheers!