The Return of Euphoria

On this 'Grab A Glass' episode, DT shares a ten minute reflection about one special thing he gained during his paternal leave.

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
The bay and the arbil is nice. I'm gonna keep it flat ears on
the line last nice, Well kickit that have a lot best so graver

(00:24):
Loss. The day after this debuts, I will officially be returning back to
work. My paternity leave will becoming to a close. Uh. And
it is bringing about mixed feelings,very mixed feelings. Paternity leave or any

(00:54):
paid parental leave, at least asI see it and can feel it here
at the end, is like thisweird mystical fantasy type world where you're quite
literally paid to sit at home.Luckily, in the state of Oregon,

(01:19):
they have an excellent paid leaf structurewith which they will supplement the percentage of
the income that your employer will pay, so you were made whole one hundred
percent. First in amount of weeksI believe it's twelve, so that really
allowed for both myself and Veronica tobe here full time for the birth of

(01:46):
our child and the first three monthsof his life. Luckily, for Veronica,
she gets a little bit more time, so she'll be home for a
little bit longer than I will.But it's this just weird, strange.
Potentially, once in a lifetime,if you have more than one kid.
Then it could be double that fantasyworld in which you are just allowed to

(02:09):
be at home. They're paying you, like actually get paid weekly, which
is interesting, and you get torear your child, raise your kid.
But it's not like a vacation becauseyour brain and your responsibilities are consumed with

(02:30):
something that in my mind, inmy world. And I can't believe I'm
saying this. I don't know ifI would have said this before. Is
more difficult than working, but thesatisfaction is so much higher. So it
was and has been beautiful to beaway from work. I'm not gonna lie.

(02:53):
It's been fantastic. I haven't openedthat computer very often. I've on
the work phone maybe less than tentimes, and mostly just because there were
numbers in there that I wanted toget and put on my personal phone to
check in on people and say hello. It's that has been really, really

(03:14):
great. The reason why it's amixed bag is because I actually enjoy what
I do. I really do.I've really come into my own at the
role that I'm in. You guysknow, I work and wine and I

(03:35):
love it. And it's been fantastic, which is to say that it'll be
nice to get back to being meas David Thomas and do what I do
best outside of my son, becausewe all know, or if you don't
know, you should try to havea life outside your kids. But within

(04:04):
this whole parntal leave, there's beena lot of I would say, hardships.
It's hard to raise a baby.I don't know, you know,
and I think I speak for alot of people, maybe a silent majority
of people. Yes, it's beenamazing and beautiful, and I'll tell you

(04:24):
a little bit about it. It'sbeen life changing in such a positive way.
But this shit is hard. Ifyou like sleep, if you count
on sleep, ha, if yourely on your shit. I don't even
think I'm an eight hour sleep person. I'm more like a six or five

(04:46):
hour sleep person. If you relyon that, whoo baby, baby,
I'm here to tell you you're gonnayou're gonna you're gonna have to adjust.
You don't know what you're doing,You have no clue what you're doing.
So while it has been a breakfrom work and has been really gratifying to

(05:09):
be full time at home with thebaby, it's also really, really,
really really hard. So for itto come to an end my pat leave,
my paternity leave, my paternal leave. It's it's such a weird whirlwind
of emotions. But in this time, I've gained something that I don't think

(05:41):
I would have gained, and I'lleven say gained back, because I think
I possessed this at a point.I gained back during this time, this
three months that I'm so grateful forand I wanted to share it with you.
I think the most noticeable difference inme from my vantage point. I'm

(06:06):
sure there are people that have beenaround me, my wife, brother,
my mother, other folks that mighthave a different point of view on this,
But from my vantage point, themost noticeable difference in me that I've
gained during my paternity leave is thatI laugh harder and longer than I have

(06:30):
in decades. And maybe that's fromthe sleep deprivation. Maybe I don't think
so, but maybe I just thinkthat joy is more parent now. When
there is a joyous moment, itbrings out this ridiculous, giggly, goofy,

(06:53):
long lasting laugh that I don't thinkI've had in a really really long
time. And I know y'all hearme on the show, and I laugh
a lot, and I have Ioutburst and laughter all the time, but
even that, take that and multiplyit by ten. I really do think
that joy in me is just moreapparent. And that's something that I've gained

(07:15):
in the three months of just beingaround this growing, developing, smart,
beautiful baby. His laugh makes myheart sing in a way that I man,
I can't describe it to you.When he's happy, when he's in
his giggly mode, it's euphoric.It is euphoric. And so for me,

(07:44):
as I exit this weird, amazing, hard, gratifying, almost isolating,
but allowing us to really pour intoour time just the most ridiculous where
they're paying me, it's weird asI exit that, and I've gained that

(08:09):
childish like you're in class and likethe teacher told you to stop laughing,
and you and your best friend can'tstop laughing. As I've get regained that
amazing, like adolescent goofiness. Again, I have no one to think but
my son for that. And whilehe's learned so much in the three months,

(08:33):
and I've learned personally so much inthe three months, and I've gotten
to watch my wife learn so muchin the three months, and I've learned
more about her and how powerful andamazing and patient she is. And I've
got to watch family members play adifferent role. I've said it before,

(08:56):
I'll say it again. It's socool to see my mother be a grandmother,
my brother be an uncle. I'mso happy that I've got that joy
back that goofy cannot stop laughing.Give me two minutes to get myself together

(09:16):
joy because of my son. Iwould love to hear from other parents which
you gained in your paternity leave.Some of you all have had multiple parental
leaves, so share that with me. This has been another episode of a
podcast called Grabbic Glasshots by Yours truly, David Thomas, better known as DT

(09:37):
but also known as the one andonly Big Broccolini. Much love to the
creators, no matter your flavor,May God forever be in our favor and
your cheers everybody, Thank you somuch for listening.