“I think when you become a parent you go from being a star in the movie of your own life to the supporting player in the movie of someone else’s.”
― Craig Ferguson, American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot
A hard, cold rain fell as the silver sedan sat under the covered carport. He clicked his seat belt, put the car carefully in drive and checked the mirrors. He tenderly eased on the gas. His driver’s ed teacher would be impressed.
He looked over at his wife. Her beautiful but bloated face reflected the hell she had been through. Her eyes were closed — she was dead-dog tired. The rain began pounding on the hood as the car crept out from under the cover, sounding like 50 lions roaring in unison. It soon drowned out every other sound in the car.
For the first time since he was 16, he checked every mirror and the car’s blindspot.
As he pulled the car slowly into the parking lot, a red blur suddenly entered the corner of his eye. He slammed on the brakes as a Coca-Cola delivery truck ran a stop sign. The silver sedan slid slightly because of the wet pavement — and he felt a little pee come out. It had all happened in less than five seconds.
His wife opened her eyes and looked at him. His hands were visibility shaking.
The windshield wipers beat as fast as his heart. He closed his eyes and gathered up the courage to start driving again. Once again, he carefully pressed the gas.
He came to the traffic signal on the main highway. He looked right, left, right and the left again. Then he repeated it. He put on his turn signal and eased right out into traffic. He had driven for nearly 16 years and this was the most terrifying drive he had ever taken. Lightning hit a nearby power pole 200 yards away, causing an explosion of sparks that lit the gray sky. “Dear God,” he mumbled.
He put on his turn signal again and checked his blind spot and pulled into the next left-turn lane. He turned onto the two-land road that led to their home. Their home. That had a new meaning now. His wife had nodded off to sleep. That’s how he knew she was exhausted. His heart was beating too fast for him to ever think of anything even remotely close to sleep.
Then he checked his rearview mirror. There, in the special seat installed just for him, was their three-day-old son. His dark eyes stared ahead, looking completely innocent and vulnerable. It was an epiphany for the new father: That moment when a man realizes he is now responsible for a life other than his own. It was that moment when he realized that life is about more than just himself.
He smiled at his newborn son and continued on the most careful (and nerve wracking) drive of his entire life. He drove five miles per hour under the speed limit all the way home. Life had forever changed that day in the pouring rain. All because of the face in the mirror.