I Became a Dad During the Pandemic. This Is What I’ll Tell My Son About His First Year.

It was a year of loss, but that’s not the only thing he’ll learn

Photo: Unsplash

In March 2020, my wife and I went on our last date outside the house. Here’s the story I want to tell my son about that night and all that happened during his first year of life.

Your mother and I hit up Samantha’s Tap Room in Little Rock’s River Market District and feasted on a quail appetizer, steak, and pasta. We’d been watching the news and realized this could be our last time enjoying dining out because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s the dating activity we enjoyed most.

I sipped wine and tried to savor this last night together — me feeling vigorous, my hair cut razor-sharp; your mother beautiful, brown-skinned, and resplendently seven months pregnant. We laughed despite the tension of not knowing the next time we’d be able to visit a restaurant.

You would be here soon. We wanted you born healthy, Covid-19 negative, and with happy parents. We enjoyed that last meal together and entered the home that would become our bunker for more than a year. We girded ourselves for a year of loss.

May 2020. Little Rock felt postapocalyptic when we drove to the hospital on that early morning. The…