"That instinct to nurture stuck with me. At 10 years old, I was constantly pestering the neighbor in our New Rochelle apartment building to let me feed her new baby. She probably thought I was crazy, but she let me, and I loved it. By the time the Cabbage Patch Dolls craze hit in the 1980s, I wanted one - not because it was popular, but because I wanted to adopt something, anything, that needed love."
"I had a typical 1970s suburban childhood: Saturday morning cartoons, clipping coupons at Waldbaum's with my mom, riding bikes with banana seats and bells until the streetlights came on. There were no cellphones or social media. If you missed a TV show, you just had to wait for the rerun. It was a simpler world, and I look back on it now and realize how much it shaped me."
A persistent desire to be a father emerged in childhood, shown by playacting caregiving with a ventriloquist dummy and seeking chances to feed a neighbor's baby. The desire to nurture continued through collecting dolls and wanting to adopt something needing love. Career ambitions led to focusing on media work, living in New York, and embracing the city's nightlife, delaying family formation. Approaching middle age, the choice was made to avoid spending life alone. Parenthood was pursued through surrogacy at age 49, resulting in the arrival of twins and the start of a family.
Read at Business Insider
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