Letters | A father's story

MOST GUYS get a Harley when they go through a mid-life crisis. Maybe they buy that house on the beach, have an affair or bungee jump. I got myself a son.

Last week, columnist Elmer Smith said that being a father changes you. I get that now.

The moment he looked up at me with those little eyes that say, "I trust you to feed me and change me when I'm wet," I got it. What I don't get is how other guys don't get it. I don't mean the ones without kids, they haven't had the chance.

What I mean is how can you look into those little innocent eyes and leave - not get a divorce, I mean up and leave.

How could someone be a deadbeat dad? Right now, I'd mortgage my right leg for this child. How can someone beat a defenseless child in anger? How could they spend their check on booze or drugs, when that child needs food?

Those issues aside, it still is an amazing thing. I envy the future he has before him. Astronaut? Teacher? CEO? Doctor? All-star first baseman?

OK, so I'm pulling for the last one, but I've said to his mother that I'd be all right if he was the happiest guy on the back of the garbage truck. Not that I want him to sell himself short, but, hey, somebody's gotta take away the trash.

You'd think that being 40 and a first-time father could put a crimp in my life. I realize that most guys my age are sending their kids off to college, or at least the junior prom. I've already sowed my oats, I've driven the motorcycle, camped out for concert tickets, joined the Navy, met famous celebrities and all that.

Things are not that much different from my 20s, though. I'm still awake at 3 a.m. with a bottle in my hand and singing John Lennon songs.

Only this time the bottle is full of Similac. and the Lennon song is "Beautiful Boy." John wasn't too far off the mark when he wrote that one, though. Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

Bob Arndts, Sharon Hill