Chapter 13
Episode 13
Life growing up wasn't easy at all but we pull through as a family, as one
We were learning to breathe again. Not the shallow, panicked breaths of those first months home, but deep, steady ones that filled our lungs and settled in our bones. Our son was no longer a fragile bundle we were terrified to break. He was a whirlwind of chubby legs, sticky fingers, and a laugh that sounded like tiny bells ringing in a quiet room. He was one now, then two, then suddenly a small boy with opinions and a fierce, stubborn love for the color blue.
Life still had its sharp edges. There were mornings when my alarm didn't go off and I’d race to get him dressed, only to find he’d decided that wearing pants was an act of war. There were evenings when the partner came home with shadows under his eyes, his shoulders heavy from a world that didn't always make room for fathers who were trying so hard to be present. Money was a constant, quiet hum in the background—not a scream, but a low thrum that reminded us to check the grocery bill, to say no to the new toy, to plan for the future in careful, penciled-in strokes.
But we pulled through. That was the thing. We pulled through.
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