Father as Host?

So my wife is pregnant at the moment so I’m thinking about fatherly duties from the point of view of a host.

 

We met our new friend for the first time today on an ultrasound, and it made me very thoughtful about how the future will change for my wife and I and also how much I will learn about being a great host. A young person is the ultimate guest – fully expressed and themselves at all times, without much care for their effects on others, and so for me is a great personal study in my ability top be a great host, right there in the moment for the changing needs of both my partner and my new friend.

This is just a thought that being a father / partner during pregnancy is a really cool type of hosting because you are always the indirect helper not the centre of attention, which for me exemplifies the role of the host – always there but never the focus, and always present in the moment ready to help out but never fussing around and insisting people feel or behave a certain way.

Ive been thinking as I make Sarah cheese on toast for the 3^rd time of an afternoon or as I say goodnight to the little person in her belly, how much of a host a father really is – always present and providing but just supporting and guiding, never insisting things be done a certain way, but rather running alongside and responding to and cushioning the changes that life throws our way for the rest of the team.

 I guess I will learn as I go, like any diligent father and any compulsive host!