I didn’t want to be a father. It wasn’t that I had anything against kids. I just didn’t understand the whole melting oooh and aaaaah thing that people did around children.

It’s not that I was against having children. It’s what people seemed to do when they grew up so I figured that at some point I would probably procreate but it was just not something I thought would be all that big of a deal to me. I knew I’d accept the responsibility of loving my children and educating them. I knew it would change what I did but I never expected it to change who I was.

But the real reason I didn’t want to have children was that I didn’t want to become a Tenzing Norgay. You see, everyone knows Sir Edmund Hilary as the conqueror of Mount Everest but a little known sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay was right there with him doing more than his share of the lugging and climbing. He climbed all the way to the top of Everest too. And he saved Hilary’s life on more than one occasion. But Hilary was the star. Norgay was just the Sherpa with him.

You see, I saw myself as the star of my own adventure. My own brand of Sir Edmund Hilary….>>>Please continue reading at the National Catholic Register.