TH's Clock

TH doesn't wear watches. The only watch he's ever liked was one his grandfather sent him from Israel. It's been broken for years. It's a self-winding watch, the kind where regular motion winds the mechanisms; only now when you move it around, the hands start spinning as if resetting themselves, but then they get faster and faster and faster until they are going so fast you literally cannot see them anymore. It's like a watch on crack.

We were out at dinner last night, just finishing our meal, when a family came in and was seated at the table next to ours. The couple had four young kids--3 boys who were chasing each other in circles around the table and laughing raucously, and a quiet girl who was still too young to stand. It was the kind of family that had always made TH and me cringe and make the "yikes" face and each comment how happy we were that we weren't that couple with those kids.

But last night, TH turns to me and says, "You know, not that long ago, that was the kind of family that would drive me crazy. But now, I look at them and I want that!"

I laughed delightedly and said, "Aw, baby! Your clock is ticking! Remember six months ago when I told you that I didn't know what had happened to me, but one day those families scared me and the next day they suddenly didn't? And you couldn't understand what I was talking about?"

And he says, "Yes! My clock is ticking! Only, I feel like it's like that old broken watch I have--no movement at all, and then suddenly spinning totally out of control!"

I was delighted to hear his confusion and wonder at this self-realization. He suddenly figured out last night that he doesn't want kids because I want them or because it was our plan to start trying now. He wants kids because he wants to be a dad. He wants them for his sake, not for the sake of me or our family. What a great milestone.

On the say home, Red Hot Chili Peppers were singing "Give it away, give it away, give it away now." TH, blissfully high from his realization that he wants kids, started singing along, "Give us Bay-bay, give us bay-baby, give us bay-bay now."

There were other lyrics that worked for both versions of the song, as TH was very excited to point out, but I'll leave those up to you to figure out!