Taishan’s birth was like completing a marathon then realizing I’m actually in an Iron Man Triathlon in reverse. I trained for months and mentally prepared for the race, which I barely survived, but I made it to the finish line! Before I can even savor a deep breath or a sip of water, I’m told that I still have to bike for 112 miles and swim 2.4 miles. I don't know how to swim, and I don't have a bicycle.

Under no circumstances should a beginning surfer enter the water at the Lahaina reefs in Maui. Having never received this advice, I am now face to face with death.

I’ve been dating Maya for 18 months and garnered enough good will to be invited to the family’s annual winter vacation. Our destination is the surfer’s paradise of Maui. Prior to this adventure, I have surfed exactly 3 times, enough to be hooked on the thrill of becoming one with the ocean.

Maya shakes me from my slumber to reveal that she is engulfed in a mysterious, dark pink substance. To my untrained eye, her water has broken and Taishan’s birth is imminent. I enthusiastically change the sheets and attempt in vain to return to sleep. It’s an impossible task as I contemplate holding my son for the first time.

Being confronted with my greatest fear left me with no other option than complete surrender. I knew it was unlikely, and yet when I allowed my mind to travel to the worst possible scenario, the destination where I arrived was Maya dying in during childbirth.

For the first time in my life I am spending the night across the street at my neighbor’s house. They are the friendly people we always say hello to when we see them in their front yard, and they always happily collect our mail and feed our pets when we go on vacation.

When the voice of my ego is louder than the voice of my higher self we all lose. When my son was learning to eat, he did what all babies do. He picked up the food and threw it on the floor. Every meal. Every snack. Every day.

When we learned that a boy was joining our family, we struggled to think of a name that would adequately capture the intercontinental collaboration that was responsible for our lives. Ancestors from China, Iran, Italy, Germany and the Czech republic had all survived in order for this child to be here.

A broken bone should be more than enough justification to ask for help. Unless you are 11 year old Gino, completely divorced from the ability to identify and express his needs. One of my greatest thrills in prepubescent life was the annual Lake Tahoe skiing pilgrimage my father and I embarked upon each winter.

I am not a cat person. At least that’s the story I told myself before I became a parent. It’s not that I was averse to felines, I just viewed them the same way they seemed to see me, ranging between tolerance and indifference.

The moment when my body declared itself ready to sleep is a tiny speck in the rearview mirror, and my 6 month old son has been crying inconsolably for the last hour.