How did you do it, exactly, Dad? I’m struggling here.
Tom Chivers / BuzzFeed
I'm older now than my dad was in my earliest memories. I was 33 when my son was born. My dad was 28 when I was born; I can probably remember him at age 31.
I remember calling him "old". I must have been about 5 or 6. "But you're old," I said, in response to something. He'd have been about my age now. "I'm older than you," he said, if I remember rightly, "but I'm still a young man."
I've now got this mad creature with no sense of self-preservation sprinting around bashing into things and trying to run into roads. I am entirely responsible for its wellbeing. I've managed to keep it alive and safe for 16 months; my dad managed for somewhere between 18 and 34 years, depending how you count these things.
He must have been as terrified and clueless as I am, and making it up as he went along as much as I am, but luckily I was too young and stupid to notice at the time.
Tom Chivers / BuzzFeed