SHOW & TELL

A man faces the challenges, terror, and humor of fatherhood after the age of 50 in this debut memoir.

Nordstrom is a self-proclaimed “old-fart father.” At the dawn of his 50s, he welcomed his son, Christian, into the world in stammering horror as he watched the baby literally cut from his wife’s body during a cesarean section. Three years later, his daughter, Alexandra, joined the family during a long and stressful birth for his wife, Mary, that left him in the corner with an oxygen mask on. But even if age brings wisdom, the author’s life before the children arrived little prepared him for parenthood—from the flying food and the unexpected dangers of bath time to the constant stickiness and piles of poop everywhere. But in these trying and humorous moments came revelations about the loss of single friends, the ins and outs of stay-at-home parenting, and perhaps most starkly, how families mark time. (“If you really looked at the old photos, you saw the same expressions...at a two-year-old’s birthday party—boredom, and the I want to leave face.…Most of those in the photos...are already dead. Maybe that’s the reason to celebrate a baby’s birth every year. To celebrate those still alive and who will be dead before the child reaches puberty.”)  Nordstrom’s memoir skillfully captures a man who feels perpetually out of his depth, a new father overwhelmed by the daily problems of dirty diapers and unanswerable questions, with his greatest defense a nearly endless reserve of dark humor and dad jokes. Narrated in the first person, the book places readers in the foxhole alongside the author for every office call about “Spit Day” and irritating “Are we there yet?” in a manner that will likely make those without kids jubilant while giving parents numerous examples of why the trials are all worthwhile. In addition, there are odd, unexpected, even poetic observations, from the buildup of granola bar wrappers in a vehicle’s back seat to the way a discarded diaper soaks up bacon grease.

An insightful look at parenting for the old and young—and for those who want children or don’t.