Time to go home

By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The more things change the more they stay the same (I think Cinderella said that). The time we spent in the hospital was great, the staff was awesome, and the care my wife and daughter received was top-notch. With that being said there is no place like home, there's no place like home, There's no place like home (Dorothy, Wizard of Oz).
The first trip in the car with this new little person couldn't of been any different than the drive to the hospital. Every speed limit was obeyed, every bump or pothole was avoided. Nothing was going to prevent me from my task of getting my wife and newborn baby home in one piece.
It is too strange to consider how much the last three days have changed, and of course will continue to change, my life. Our baby is finally here, we are no longer expectant parents, we are parents. I am someone's' Dad, that is a scary thing for me to think about, much less for me to say. This tiny little person can't do anything without input from my wife or I. We have been given this enormous gift but with this gift comes an equally large responsibility. Everything that we do she will try to copy, at least for the first few years. We will all make mistakes, that's a part of life. Now I need to make sure that my mistakes aren't so great that they hurt my family. My life is no longer my own. There is no more selfishness allowed, everything I do now needs to be thought through and discussed and decided on based on what's best for our family. I have never really thought like that before. Up until now pretty much everything has been about me but that has to change or my family could be adversely affected.
When my wife and I decided to become parents we talked about the hopes and dreams we will have for our child. Part of the work is finished but most of it hasn't even begun. It is going to be interesting to see how far my daughter can go as she begins her journey into this life.