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THAT LAUGH
Mark A. Rosolowski

I remember the day I called my mother and told her that I was going to be a dad, I remember hearing her laugh, this laugh went on for a full five minutes, when I asked her why she was laughing, she just said, "You will find out".

Well as my wife's pregnancy progressed, I would call my mother and give her the updates, every time I called she would laugh, every time I asked her what was so funny she would say, "You will find out".

This laughter went on for the entire pregnancy and the only answer I would get was, "You will find out". Eventually, curiosity got the better of me and I went to the mother of a friend of mine, explained everything to her told her how my mother would laugh, before I could say another word she busted out laughing, I asked what is so funny and she responded, "You will find out".

I just thought to myself, this has to be a mom answer, all mothers do it, so therefore it means nothing, in the back of my mind I heard my mother laughing and saying, “You will find out”.

The big day came and my daughter was born, how excited I was, it was one of the proudest moments of my life, I called my mother to tell her that she was finally a grandmother and she had a granddaughter, that laughter rolled through my head, I asked again mom what is so funny, “You will find out”, is all she said between fits of laughter.

A few days later we took our daughter home, the house seemed full, we were a family, it was great, my wife called her mother to let her know we were home and it was so nice to be a family, my wife held the phone away from her ear as my mother-in-law laughed, I called across the room what was so funny, my wife told me her mother said, “You will find out”.

Okay, well it was time to be a daddy, I fed my daughter her bottle, she threw up all over me, that's okay, I had a lot of clean shirts. I changed her diaper, if my daughter entered a peeing for distance contest she would have won, that's okay I had a lot of clean shirts. I carried my daughter to her crib and whet to put her down and she threw up again, missing the burp towel I had on my shoulder, but that was okay, I had a lot of clean shirts. After a few hours of non stop crying my daughter finally fell asleep and my wife and I went to bed. An hour later we were awaken by my daughter's crying, we fed, changed, burped her, I changed my tee shirt, that’s okay I had a lot of them and put her down to sleep.

The next few years, as I watched my daughter grow up, I was waiting for the day she would learn to walk, one day she got up and ran, where did the walking go, the falls, she had none of the falls, none of the trips, she was running, she ran right out of the front door, I caught her and got her safely back into the house. She got into the usual mischief but that was okay we had a lot of band-aids and good medical insurance, I was losing my hair but that was okay I had a lot of hair.


I put her on the bus her first day of school, I watched as she waved to me and went off to school, I had tears in my eyes as I watched the bus roll off, I got home and the phone rang ten minutes later, I had to go to the school, my daughter would not stop crying, I got there and saw her playing and laughing, having a good time, her teacher looked at me and said this happens sometimes, I got back in the car and drove home.

The years that followed were full of her tears, her laughter, her tantrums, I kept looking in the mirror, I saw gray hair, but that was okay I still had a fair amount of hair left and most of it was still blonde.

By the way did you know that when a 7 year old makes mommy and daddy breakfast she can get flour, sugar, eggs and water from one end of the house to the other and make the smoke alarm go off, all before 5 in the morning. But that was okay we had a lot of rags to clean up the mess.

The teen years came in strong and right on time. I do not remember having the mood swings she had, her mouth became the biggest part of her body, I looked in the mirror, less hair, less blonde, goatee going gray.

The first dates came, the worrying, the missed curfews, the experimenting with alcohol, the sneaking of smoking, but we made it through all of that, I looked in the mirror, good thing was I no longer had gray hair, the bad news was that I was bald, goatee completely gray, in the back of my mind I heard my mother laughing and her voice came to me “You’ll find out”.

The day came that my daughter called me to tell me she was pregnant, I was going to be a grandfather, I burst out laughing, I had to have her hold on so I could run to the bathroom, I came back and picked up the phone and was still laughing, my daughter asked, “Daddy, what is so funny?”. I gave her the best answer I could, “You will find out.”