I really appreciate how you describe that moment. Reading this actually reminded me of an idea from The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, that many of our deepest emotions, including parental love, can be understood as evolutionary mechanisms designed to ensure the survival and propagation of our genes.

In that sense, it’s fascinating to think that the overwhelming transformation you’re describing might also be biology doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. That doesn’t make it any less real or powerful, if anything, it makes it even more remarkable that something so deeply meaningful is also wired into us at such a fundamental level.