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Fatherhood’s All Love and Sunshine Until You Screw Up the Car Seat
Chubby baby thighs: 1. Me: 0
Before I get into one of my funniest fatherhood moments, I have to set the unfunny scene.
Two years after we got married, my wife and I had our only son. I was 36 years old. As the oldest of a half-dozen children, I had little doubt that I could handle fatherhood. I had already changed hundreds of diapers, warmed bottles, potty-trained toddlers, and rocked babies to sleep. I was as confident of my ability to take care of my son as I was of anything. But he was born in 2008, the same year that the financial markets — and my real estate business — collapsed.
That disaster left me feeling uncertain about nearly everything. I thought my company would implode in 2008. Instead, it blew up.
And I was a little depressed, which is to say, a lot. My son was born in August, but I started having cash flow problems by February. As I’m sure you know, having a business that is losing money is significantly worse than having no business at all.
