For Father's Day!

This morning I was listening to the radio and as usual jamming in my car to the music and laughing at the DJ's as they went through their morning routine. But then one of them said something that made my heart sink. They were talking about calling there Dads for fathers day and one of them was posing the question who should he call? That the others had Dads that had stuck around but that his just left. The hardest part for me is that as I've been listening to these folks for awhile I know that he is a new dad and that in what I hear him talk about, it seems like he is doing an awesome job. What for many of us is a natural shift where we go from being the child in our primary child/parent relationships to being the parent couldn't and wont happen for him yet despite that he is bucking the trend and ensuring that his child doesn't have to grow up with that void in their life.

 The words that popped into my head were this. "Fatherhood is not about what he did, it is about what you are doing and will do."  

This fathers day as I reflect on my own life and my relationships with my Dad and my kids, I realize that I have a long way to go but that I've also come a long way. My wife and truly my partner has helped push me to have those conversations that I didn't want to have.  To seek help when I thought I could do it alone and to slow down when I became blind to what was happening around me. 

To all you fellow dads out there let me encourage you. Stick around. Sometimes it will be hard. You will need to occasionally be the rock when you feel like a sponge. It is no longer all about you, yet by pursuing your dreams you will help them to have dreams of their own. By loving your wife you will show your daughters how a woman should be treated and your sons how to love a woman. Find other guys with similiar values and circumstances to journey through life with. Don't fall in to the traps of self doubt and learn to focus on those things that are truly important. To all of you guys I wish a Happy Fathers Day, and to that DJ if you'd like feel free to give me a call because I want to wish you a happy fathers day, and tell you well done.