Samuel Paul Thorson, 26, living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, gave me the pleasure of hearing about his most recent experience on becoming a father. He is the oldest of four siblings: Matthew Thorson (24), Sydney Thorson (21), and Luke Thorson (18), and his wife’s name is Sarah Thorson (26). They are quite young parents, having had their first child, Otto Paul Thorson (born on March 19th, 2018), recently. But they had been planning on having him for a long while now. In fact, they had his name picked out years ago in the early stages of their relationship.
“We chose the name Otto Paul because we wanted a name that was unique and traditional and a name that had both Sarah and I’s family history in it”. Sam said that “Otto” is Sarah’s great grandfather’s name, and “Paul” is Sam’s grandfather’s name. He also told me that the couple was very open about having children in their relationship and for fun, would talk about names for both little baby girls and boys, whatever the angel might come out to be. I asked Sam if he wants to have more children after this experience and his immediate answer was, “Yes, definitely!”
I asked, what are the most exciting and scariest parts about taking on this new role? “All the firsts. Everything we experience with Otto is for the first time and it is exciting to watch and appreciate every single thing he does.” Some examples that he has already experienced was Otto’s first smile, his first nap at home, and changing a diaper! Some events Sam is looking forward to are when Otto gets to graduate high school and when Otto has a wedding of his own someday. He also said, “The responsibility of the life of another person and always worrying about having enough money or enough food is what scares me.” But he proceeded to say that he and his wife knew what kind of decision they were making having Otto and, as the strong couple they have always been, he knows they will be alright.
My favorite part of the interview I had with Sam was when I asked him what kind of father he wants to be for Otto. “I want to be a dad that is able to answer all of his questions, I want to teach him how to be a man in our society and I want to be there for support when he stumbles and falls.” He told me that he wants to be a helpful father and that he wants Otto to be able to talk to him about anything and everything so that he’ll able to learn through experiencing life, while always having his dad standing right behind him through it all.