Below is my column from the Aug. 16, 1994 Galveston Daily News. It's tough to believe that the baby who arrived a few days before the column, turns 16 today
NEW LOVE, NEW RESPONSIBILITIES
By Dave Yewman
While my wife slept a few doors away, I spent the early hours of Saturday morning with a blue-eyed beauty named Samantha.
Samantha is a knockout - soft skin, familiar features and a gaze that melts my heart. Around 1 a.m. Saturday, she lay there naked and kept me captive.I tried. I promised, but I simply could not go back to my wife, Heidi. We will never be the same. The incident has changed us forever.
I wondered if I should call her Samantha or Sam. I stood transfixed and teary-eyed, looking at the new girl in my life sleeping and mumbling next to me.
It was the second time in an hour she'd made me cry. The first came at 11:03 p.m. on Friday when Heidi gave birth to her.
In an awestruck haze, I stood over my new daughter in the nursery at St. Mary's Hospital and considered the first Yewman to carry the handle "BOI." (Born on the Island - of Galveston, Texas).
In unfamiliar surgical scrubs and a mask, I wondered what lies ahead for her, what she would be like, what will touch her and whom she will touch.
Later, in the silence of a recovery room, a man considered what he was compelled to do for this small bundle before him. He sat and for the first time truly realized what a stunning responsibility he had to the 7-pound, 8-ounce girl who had gone from belly bump to miniature human being.
Saturday afternoon, the tired mother and daughter slept while the new father sat concerned about college funds, high school and future boyfriends.The world outside - full of death and despair - was no more than a whoosh of cars passing by in the distance. The only sounds in the room were hearts beating.
Samantha sat in a small plastic tub on wheels, oblivious to the thoughts whirling around her.
She is without hate, without malice, a blank slate of being ready to learn the ways of the world. Today, she is small, weak, dependent. Soon, she will be adventurous, inquisitive, independent. Later, she will be strong willed, intelligent and grown.
She is four days old today. When she can understand, I will tell her that she was born in interesting times - in a nation obsessed by the trivial and unable to face many harsh realities. I will tell her she was born into a nation of great beauty and magnificent promise. I will tell her she can be anything she wants to be in that nation. I will tell her she will be loved, always.
Since 11:03 p.m. Friday, I have had two women in my life. And in between the excitement, the rush of joy, the visiting relatives and fussing friends, comes a realization of responsibilities, a lifetime charge to do what is best for the two beauties who now hold my heart captive
Dave Yewman is a reporter for The Daily News
