Being a parent made me grow up overnight.

by Patrick Jameson
(Houston, Tx)

I never expected a kid, let alone one as awesome as Bradley...and I wasn't ready for anything, and I was scared. More scared than when I enlisted, more scared than the thought of going to Iraq, scared.

I did my best to act brave and ready, but Carolinn knew I wasn't, just like she wasn't. So we stumbled through the pregnancy, but everything turned out all right.

I saw him, his purple-pink bald head and instantly was just thrown into this affection-protection kind of primal instinct, and I knew that I was going to be a good father.

I wasn't scared, Carolinn was, haha, but about getting back into a swimsuit lol!