Ben Friedman shares why he appreciates having time to spend with his son.
I welcomed my first child, Mateo, on Nov. 4. He was born at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, where my wife Lauren and I felt sincerely cared for during a challenging week-long stay by an extraordinary all-female team of midwives, nurses and doctors. Mateo is a beautiful, big and healthy boy.
The hardest question I get asked these days is “What does it feel like to be a dad?” Where I’ve landed is that I feel like I’ve unlocked something in the universe. Suddenly, after 37 years of not thinking about fate, I feel completely destined to be Mateo’s father.
Thank goodness for the timing of Mateo’s arrival — the day before the election. On parental leave, I simply have not had the time, the energy or the number of available hands to “doom scroll” and read the political abomination of the day. I work in government affairs, and while it is my professional duty to fight for outdoor access for all and therefore track the ways in which nature is under threat in California and nationally, my perspective during this time has shifted decidedly locally.
These days, nothing is more important than the lively community discussion about reducing traffic in my Rockridge neighborhood. We spend our mornings hiking the different dog-friendly trails of the East Bay Regional Parks District — with our Labrador Lobo off-leash and Mateo strapped on our chests, smiling at the other increasingly recognizable dog folks enjoying the same Redwood-Steam Train-Sibley rotation.