I am the father to the three most wonderful girls in the world. Now, come June and with God’s mercy, I will be the father of a son. My excitement grows daily. I think that I didn’t know how much I wanted a son. I’ve been spoiled by three daughters – why would I want anything else? Occasionally though, as I thought of Kim’s pregnancy late last year, there were these moments of deep, deep hope for a son…even a longing.

Part of that came from family history. I am an only son. My father is an only son and my grandfather too. We Kuos don’t have lots-o-boys and I didn’t want the “family name” to “end” with me – granted there are many, many, many millions of Kuos around the world…just not this Kuo. The other part though was purely selfish – I wanted a son to do father-son sorts of things and to experience them as boys and men experience them… to catch a fish, throw a ball, jump off of things, throw snowballs at each other and to deeply, intuitively understand what that means to us as males. I love doing these things with my girls – love doing them. But a son… I guess a son is just a bit more like me.

I fear writing these words because I fear that I will sound sexist. If I do, however, it is only because I lack the words to express what I mean.

Finally, this – the challenge of naming a boy with a last name of Kuo. Consider:

Chris Kuo – sounds like Crisco

Teddy Kuo – teddy bear with a Chinese touch?

Mike Kuo – micro?

Mack Kuo – macro?

Noah Kuo – Noah Kuo-a?

Hmmmm… still a couple months to go