3 UP FRONT Confessions Of A Pregnant Father J JEWELRY APPRAISALS Call For An Appointment At Very Reasonable Prices VLteitce 30400 Telegraph Road Suite 134 Birmingham. Mi. 48010 611 FINE JEWELERS (313) 642-5575 GEM/DIAMOND SPECIALIST AWARDED CERTIFICATE BY GIA IN GRADING AND EVALUATION BY GARY ROSENBLATT Editor BE A WINNER, PLAY Daily 10:00-5:30 Thurs. 10-8:30 Sat. 10:00-5:00 THE CLASSIFIEDS Call The Jewish News Today 354-6060 Dan Greenburg, his wife Suzanne and son Zack. Dan Greenburg, the man who immortalized the Jewish Mother, has, at the age of 49, finally become one. The humorist, whose How To Be A Jewish Mother became a classic for its biting yet loving look at parental love, concern, obsession and guilt, has just written a personal memoir of what it's like to have a baby. The book, Dan Greenburg's Con- fessions Of A Pregnant Father (Macmillan) begins before con- ception, chronicling how Green- burg and his young wife, Suzanne O'Malley, decide to have a child and takes us through the pregnancy, birth and the first months of par- enthood. In an interview, Greenburg readily admits that with his son, Zack, now 13 months old, he has found himself "doing all the things I lampooned my mother for. But I'm not even apologetic about that. You try not to inflict guilt on your child, but I'm sure I will. And he may even resent me at 18 when I come along on his dates." Greenburg's parents didn't quite reach that level of over- protection with him. 1-1-e de- scribes his Chicago upbringing as fairly normal and middle- class. He grew up in a Conser- vative Jewish home, attended Hebrew school and Hebrew high school and went to Ramah summer camps in Wisconsin for several years. His Judaism has been a very important part of his life, he says, though noting that his wife is Catholic and that how they will raise their son "is a big issue between us because her religion is impor- tant to her, as mine is to me." Greenburg says he has grown more serious, more thoughtful over the years, yet it i' humor that is most effective in his new book. Geared primarily to couples contemplating parenting or "actively pregnant," the book, according to Greenburg, can also be enjoyed by parents with young children (since they can appreciate reading about some- one going through what they re- cently experienced) and even couples who never plan to have children since "it will give them a vicarious experience and save them at least $800,000." Which covers just about. everyone. "I never thought I wanted to be a father," Greenburg writes at the outset. "To me babies meant all-night squalling, poopy diapers and sticky fingerprints on everything you owned." But, he goes on, "I had gotten to the point in therapy and in life that dodging my fears was even less comfortable than confronting them." His self-indulgent style of living had gone stale and he was "ready to seek more in this world than my own selfish de- sires." He .says that when he and his wife Suzanne (he was married to journalist Nora Ephron prev- iously but they opted for cats rather than kids) decided to seriously consider becoming parents, they questioned many of their friends who had chil- dren. They discovered, sober- ingly, that some said they regret it and that the most positive thing anyone told them was that parenting is enormously painful yet enormously rewarding. "Having a child is not a logi- cal decision," says Greenburg. "Far from it. It's illogical, it's an emotional choice." But it's one, he says, he'll never regret. "I used to look at friends who had children with great pity," says Greenburg. "Now it's just the opposite. I pity the. friends who are childless. I know how that must sound to them but it's true." He says it's the best deci- sion he ever made and that one of the benefits of parenting is Continued on Page 26 NEW '86 900 3 DR White w/Red Leather, 5 Speed, Air, Elec-Sunroof, Tinted Glass, Power Wind., Power Locks, Elec. Mirrors, Elec. R. Defog., AM/FM Stereo Cass. w/Graphic Equalizer, Perelli Tires and Much More. Stk. #006. LEASE $357 or • FOR per Ate. Malichite Green w/Tan Int., 5 Speed, Sunroof, Air Cond., Tinted Glass, Power Wind., Power Locks, Elec. Mirrors, Elec. R. Defog., AM/FM Stereo Cass., Perelli Tires and Much More. Stk. #S023. LEASE FOR $294 .86 LEASE $ FOR 41 6 ■ 63 Per Mo. Platinum Blue w/Greyint., Air Cond., Tinted Glass, Power Wind., Power Locks, Elec. Mirrors, Elec. R. Defog., AM/FM Stereo Cass., Perelli Tires and Much More. Stk. #S037. • Per Mo. viromEAmwm:krinNv,!:*,..mk