Stories from a Delirious Dad

One of the first few nights we brought our son home from the hospital, my wife woke me up to change a diaper. Unfortunately, I had been having an intense dream where I was shot in the Korean War as a soldier, and while my wife wanted me to simply wake up and walk to the changing table, I exclaimed, “Can’t you see my legs?!” Not quite back to reality yet, I really thought my legs were covered in blood and that I would never walk again. It took about a minute to realize that I was in my bedroom and that everything was okay.

Maybe a week later, she woke me up again, asking again if I could change a diaper. I replied, “Why would you want to change denominations?” It took a few seconds before I realized what she had actually asked me, but for a long moment, I had wondered why she was waking me up at 3 am to talk about our church’s denominational choice.

Most recently, the night before our first day of school, she told me that I was repeating the phrase, “go fighting owls,” over and over again in the middle of the night. Our school mascot is the fighting owls, so I guess I was a little bit too ready for school to start.

I’ve always talked in my sleep, but the times I’ve woken up to help with our son in the middle of the night have caused me to have some seriously delirious moments. It’s funny to talk about afterwards, but frustrating for my wife, who probably just wants a 5-minute break while I get up and help her.

All this to say, I share some of these because it is wild and funny moments like this that are easy to forget. Life moves quickly, and if we don’t take the time to write down what we appreciate about it every once in a while, we lose its beauty. More than crazy dreams, being a dad has brought special moments, too. Even if I don’t appreciate it in the moment, I always learn to love the little times I get with my son, whether it’s holding his hand in the middle of the night or watching his eyes explore the leaves on a tree. For a baby, everything in the world is new, and as parents, we get to experience all those moments with him. His world is nothing but love and joy (mixed with some milk and dirty diapers), and even with the delirious dad moments, every day is worth it.