Grant reflects on the defining emotional high point of his life: becoming a father.

After meeting Sandy in the mid-1970s and marrying a few years later, Grant prepares for Ginny’s arrival with total focus—remodeling a bedroom, buying and setting up a crib, taking classes, and reading everything he can about pregnancy and childbirth. He is present in the delivery room and describes the moment he first holds Ginny: quiet, wide-eyed, and instantly life-changing. From that point forward, Grant says he isn’t living only for himself anymore.

He becomes a deeply involved parent—getting up at night, sharing the work, and ultimately fighting for paternity leave when he’s told it “doesn’t exist.” Grant hires a lawyer, secures the leave, and stays home as Ginny’s primary caretaker for nearly two years. He remembers coordinating nursing breaks by bringing Ginny to Sandy’s worksite so Sandy could come out and nurse in the parking lot. Fatherhood slows him down, teaches him patience, and shows him what real love feels like—having someone to live for, and wanting to be a better person.

When Grant and Sandy separate while Ginny is still young, he stays present in a daily, consistent way—volunteering to take Ginny to school, attending her classes, and bringing her home so he remains woven into her everyday life even when she’s only with him on weekends.

Years later, Grant officiates Ginny’s wedding himself. He becomes a notary so he can perform the ceremony, held outdoors on a dock overlooking the water. The experience deepens his sense of time and “snapshots”—how parents carry layers of memory: the newborn, the little girl, the teenager, the young adult, the woman building her own life. Grant reflects on how that long view brings both mortality and meaning, and ends with what he feels most strongly looking back: pride, gratitude, and love.

This chapter is a portrait of devoted fatherhood—showing up, adapting, and staying close through every season.