Where To Begin... How Do We Begin To Contribute Our Verse?

Where do you begin... let me start with a quote that seems to fit the moment in our life for why to begin the blog now. It is from one of my Favorite movies: "Dead Poet's Society" and the passion, romance, beauty, and love of this past month: welcoming Sophie home and falling deeper in love with my bride, Melissa, has certainly inspired me to put my pen to the paper.

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.

To quote from Whitman, 'O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?' Answer. That you are here--that life exists, and you have identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. THAT THE POWERFUL PLAY GOES ON AND YOU MAY CONTRIBUTE A VERSE! What will your verse be?" -Tom Schulman

It seems a perfect time to begin sharing a chapter of our life as this is the first day of our 5th year of marriage and almost exactly one month after the birth of our darling baby girl, Sophie. We are finally finding a measure of rest at night and I have ventured back out into the work world to provide. I am not sure how to express how difficult it is to leave Sophie and Melissa at home in the morning. You are asked as a father to be and do so much, but the greatest challenge may be to walk out through the door each morning. In the past month, I have opened my heart to embrace a new level of love that is unlike anything I could have imagined experiencing before. To look deeply into the slate blue eyes of your own little girl, the life you helped create, is to lose yourself in a sea of new emotions that steals away the priorities of normal living. All I want to do is just be there and be her Daddy. Life outside her eyes does not have the same pull anymore unless she accompanies me there. Yes, I am smitten. I also finally have a much better understanding of the love of a father....

Melissa and I spent our 4th Anniversary last evening at a quiet little restaurant in Newberg called the Painted Lady, sipping wine and brandy and savoring a wonderful French meal. For a few hours it seemed like things were the way they used to be once again, but we were anxious to get back home wondering how Sophie did on her first night without us. We need not have worried, as she was happy as a flower in the morning sun when we walked in the door. Nana and Grandpa said she was a little angel. Once again we found ourselves realizing that we are not really desirous of the way life used to be, but we are keenly aware of how much more full life will be with Sophie along for the journey.