Take a Deep Breath
This is for Cameron, now just 5 months old.
I’ve had a quirk, an idiosyncrasy, that I’ve acted out upon all of our children. When they were babies, as I was rocking them to sleep, I would smell their scalps.
Now maybe this is pretty common. I’ve heard all about moms going crazy over each new child having that “baby smell.” But I’m not talking about just a smell that I enjoy. When I put my nose to the sleeping child’s head and breathe in, I swear my lungs fill to 120% normal capacity. I don’t know where the extra volume comes from but I can breathe more deeply when I’m sucking in my child’s scalp-scent than when I’m sucking wind on a treadmill. The scent isn’t good, it’s primal.
Countless shows on the Discovery Channel repeat the idea that wild animals bond with their offspring primarily based on scent. It’s easy to imagine that’s what’s been going on between me and my babies assuming either common descent or common design is involved.
Cameron, I go in for surgery later this week. I don’t know what the pathology report is going to say. But I’ve held you, and smelled your head, and I’ve bonded.
Your daddy is yours forever.