My mother
(years back)
was hoping for a litter of kids
but Dad jewed her down
to just the one.

He explained
(in later years)
that he wasn’t really interested
in a family at all
until I was born
at which point he said
he changed his mind.

I took little comfort
in his updated opinion
alleged as it was.
A revelation when first holding a baby
seemed too much a sitcom reaction
and he was more
of the science channel sort.

Maybe he saw something
in the wonder of biology at my birth
which made him appreciate my coming into the world
as an intellectual exercise?
I always questioned
his self-described emotional breakthrough.

It’s not something we discuss much now.

He seemed to appreciate me
(in recent years)
when I could run errands for him
and help explain more complex issues.
He would say he loved me
with greater frequency.

I never forgot the origin story, though,
and the discussions
about how he had to be convinced
to bring me around at all.