The skeptic in me grows weary from the barrage of über-personal things shared on social media (which I realize is ironic, coming from a blogger). However, I don’t have a problem with birth announcements, proposals, etc. themselves — my skepticism stems mainly from so many of these e-moments seeming staged or insincere.
This video, however, is truly beautiful, amazing, and full of real emotion. As a deaf man (David Welch) learns from his partner that she’s pregnant, in the span of a few seconds you witness his curiosity, realization, shock, fear, joy, and love. Without any words, we have the privilege of watching a man’s life change forever.
I don’t know David or what his life has been like, but I imagine anyone who has to try a little harder at life appreciates the “normalcy” of something like fatherhood a bit more.
I’m still amazed sometimes that I’m a father, but not because of the atypical ways I had to go about it. I spent my whole life wanting to be a dad, even picturing myself as such — yet because I also knew from a very young age that I was “different,” I never really believed I could wear the mantle of fatherhood. Eventually I came to accept myself, society evolved a bit, and I met and fell in love with a man who also wanted to be a father. And the impossible became possible.
So thank you, David, stranger from the Internet, for reminding me that the impossible is possible, that real men bare their souls, and that being a father is a beautiful, wonderful, emotional thing.
If you’re not seeing the ASL translation, adjust the settings in YouTube to see the captions.
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