Hey everyone! Richard here. The other day I became overwhelmed while hanging out with my buddy Hyunwoo. He’s a brand new daddy, and invited me to his home to see and visit with his newborn son. Joon was exactly 21 days old when I was there.

Whether it sounds like it or not, this was quite a unique experience for me. I don’t usually hang out with babies. It’s rare. Most of the time I’m interacting with people who are closer to the age of 20 or older. Even the young people I do occasionally speak with in Korea will just say hi when I’m out in public to practice their English greetings. It’s either that or they’re usually too embarrassed to say anything due to me being some strange looking foreigner dude.

Either way, I am not practiced in baby. Not at all. Especially a baby that is only 3 weeks old!

And, I couldn’t tell you the last time a Korean family invited me into their home to see their newborn baby. It’s maybe never happened in 7 years.

So needless to say, this day was very special for me.

It all happened very quickly. I wasn’t really prepared for it. There’s a moment at about the 2 minute mark in the video where Hyunwoo and I are standing on a street corner talking to the camera. Right when he says we’re going to his house to see Baby Joon, I was actually finding out about going to see his son at the same time you were. Legit that’s how it went down.

We were only in the house for maybe 20 minutes maximum, just long enough for me to soak it all in, the baby environment that is. It was special while it was happening, but the impact the experience made on me afterwards is what really blew my mind. I can still feel how I felt as I’m writing this. It’s amazing how our experience as a human is sometimes.

I could see how important Joon already is for Hyunwoo. I wasn’t expecting that. I don’t know what I was expecting honestly, but when I look back on that day now, I realize why I was so affected by the experience: I wasn’t actually expecting to see Baby Joon in the first place. When we talked before that day about meeting, he mentioned I might be able to meet him, but I didn’t get my hopes up. I just expected that maybe Joon might be sleeping and I’d miss out on my chance for some normal reason or something like that.

Instead, the stars aligned, and I was graced by tiny little Baby Joon. I have Hyunwoo to thank for that. So thanks Hyunwoo! You and your son made my day.