Scenes from Paternity Leave

From mid-April to mid-June, I stopped working and took paternity leave to be with my family full time during the final days of Hannah's pregnancy and the first weeks of Santi's life.

Work has become such a central part of my identity and day-to-day that I think it was really healthy to cut it out for a bit and connect more fully with my growing family.

Hannah decided to give birth on Long Island, where she grew up and where her parents are, so we settled into a temporary life as suburban New Yorkers. We rented a little house down the street from her parents' gone and placed Lucía in a local school to finish her last two months of Kindergarten.

I want to remember all of the quiet little moments of this life coda: playing with Lucía in my in-laws' garden, morning coffees at Campground, lunches with a pregnant Hannah, swimming at the JCC with Lucía, and quiet evening walks with Santiago.

I write this as I take a train to the airport, leaving this mini world behind, but it will always stay with me.