My son is asleep. He’s resting peacefully right now, a bit exhausted from a trip to the doctor earlier today. Occasionally his slumber is interrupted by a series of harsh coughs. It’s a sound you don’t expect to hear from an infant – a hacking that would surprise you even coming from a chain-smoking tuberculosis victim. Bad stuff. For now, he’s quiet, peaceful, and hopefully having sweet dreams.
This takes me back to the day he was born, and to a song. In the weeks leading up to his birth, I learned to play “When You Dream” by Barenaked Laides to play for him in the hospital. It’s a soft lullaby at the end of the album Stunt, and it’s written from the perspective of a father to his newborn son wondering what goes on in his head as he dozes.