dismissing responsibilities assuming presence was enough. He admitted it cost him everything—his family, his son. Cole was furious, but Walter’s words hit a nerve. That night, Cole visited his mother and asked about the past. He came home shaken. “I don’t want to be him,” he whispered, holding Rosie like he’d just met her for the first time. Things didn’t magically fix themselves.

But the next night, I found Cole changing Rosie’s diaper, laughing and calling her “Princess Poop.” When she cried again, he got up without being asked. Change doesn’t come in grand gestures. Sometimes it comes in quiet moments—like a father deciding to show up, one diaper at a time.