Dexter Michael Collins arrived on October 2, 2020 late in the evening, accomplishing what no one else has on Planet Earth: he made me a grandfather.
The arrival of a new human in the age of a pandemic is alternately uplifting and frightening, particularly sprinkled with the realities of life ahead from climate change and the turn to a more authoritarian country. What will Dex's role in it be? How will he change the world for the better?
Those are all questions that will wait for he is like his father: slow to arrive and demanding once here. But, of course, it's not him. Babies change our routines and our priorities, but they also give us a new perspective on ourselves. Things about our upbringing that didn't make sense, suddenly start to make sense.
I'm here for all of it, as long as I can be, however.
We are not the type of people to push for our children to make us grandparents; we're happy with whatever decision people make with what works for them. So when we found out in the spring that Dex was coming, we were surprised.
Parenthood is hard to define. It is both joyous and heartbreaking as we watch our children navigate through the world and, inevitably, fly out of the nest and into it.
Dex has the luxury of two parents who'll put him first, will make the mistakes most parents make, question their ability to raise a kid, and one day watch the person that 6 pound 13 ounce baby becomes with a mixture of pride in him and satisfaction in themselves.
Just as we did with ours.
