The world, that dangerous place

Nobody can say Martin is a bad father. True, he sometimes wipes Daniel’s bottom with make-up remover, he gives him Tai food and once he forgot to pick him up from the Kinderkrippe, but those are trifle. The important thing is that all the mother instinct that somehow never came upon me, he's got it. He is the one that gets hysteric and shouts the girls at the Krippe if Daniel falls from a swing.  He is the one that explains our two years old son how a diesel motor works. He is the one that can spend a whole afternoon laying in the carpet and playing with trains, and he is the one that suddenly sees the world as something scary that his baby should be protected from.

To understand the implications of this last point, there is something about my husband I need to explain and this is his complete disregard for his own safety, and for that of his partner.

I know my Czech readers won’t raise an eyebrow when I say that Martin loves skiing off-road, getting the best out of guards by sneaking where it is not allowed to go, trying local delicatessen that could be better defined as health hazards and in general dragging his partner to situations that put to test the limits of physical endurance, the courage and the patience. During the many years we have been together we have traveled four continents listening “sir, you are not allowed to go in there”, buying the local equivalent of Imodium and happily following any friendly foreigner with a suggestion for a temple visit, a sari factory or an alternative to regular buses.

But all of a sudden an intercontinental trip is too long for Dani, Chinese food is dangerous, in other countries people is just interested in your money, Egypt is unstable, and Israel will be the first country to be bombed if the situation in Syria gets out of hand.

The world, not so long ago an amusement park for my husband, it is suddenly hostile ground where you should step carefully. Is it possible that common sense and judgment have finally reached him? I asked myself and answer, no, while I help him look for the ax he will take on a climbing trip to Mont Blanc.

Naha, he is the same irresponsible person that got drunk together with the guy that should guide him through Nepal’s jungle. It is not him, but the world that has changed. Of course! Arab spring, crisis, Berlin’s wall… and specially the fact that for the last two years and a half, that little thing called Daniel is living on it.