Good morning, happy Monday & happy Father’s Day!
“Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, story-tellers, and singers of song.”
– Pam Brown, Australian poet
With Sunday being Father’s Day I am hoping you will humor me with some reflections on fatherhood.
Being a father is one of the greatest joys in my life. I have 4 precious children, two are adults and two are children, two are girls and two are boys, two are biological and two are not, but my love for each one of them is beyond what I could ever describe.
I jumped right into being a dad as my wife had two precious girls when we said, “I do.” I don’t know if anything could prepare me for being a dad, I guess it’s just something you figure out as you go, I’m still figuring it out.
This next story will illustrate how steep of a learning curve I had when jumping into parenting when the children are 7 & 9 years old.
One of the first times my wife left me to watch the girls by myself, she came home from her grocery shopping to find the girls playing in the street. She stops the car and asks the girls “Why are you playing in the street?” “Jon told us we could,” they instantly replied.
My wife storms into the house, “The girls were playing in the street … and they said that YOU said it was ok!” I quickly defend myself, “That is not true at all!” I open the front door and holler, “Girls, get in here immediately!”
We all sit down on the couch realizing this is going to be a tense conversation. I start if off, “Girls, you know you are not allowed to play in the street.”
Without hesitation, “You told us we could.”
“No, I did not!”
The girls adamantly respond, “Yes, you did! We said, ‘Can we play in the street?’ and you replied ‘Yes, that sounds like a great idea.’”
Me, suddenly realizing what has happened, “Oh no! I was being sarcastic, like ‘Yeah, what a great idea to play in the street!’ I didn’t actually mean to play in the street.”
Yeah, I had a lot of learning to do when it came to this dad thing. It was at that point that I realized that my sarcasm was not understood. (Frankly, in my house it’s still oftentimes not understood and rarely appreciated 😉.)
One more funny story that happened a few weeks ago: My family and I were at a theme park with some friends, and I was talking to one of my friends about parenting. My son David overhears the conversation and asks what we are talking about.
I respond, “We are talking about parenting. Do you have any idea how much patience it takes to raise you?”
With only a second of reaction time he looks at me with a big smile on his face and replies, “More than you’ve got!”
There are many days I fear that he is right. 😉
This fatherhood deal is not for the faint of heart, that is for sure. The sleepless nights with newborns, the exhaustion with toddlers, the fighting with teenagers, the worry with adult children. This fatherhood gig is a lifetime commitment!
My children like to pick on me for my hair, which is both graying and fading. Without fail I assure them that they were great contributors to both 😉
I’m reminded of the great quote from Mark Twain, “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But then I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”
Fatherhood has taught me so much about life, and it most certainly has taught me a respect and appreciation for my own father that I don’t know I would have been able to perceive without being a dad myself.
To all the dads out there: you are heroes, you make an incredible difference, you are loved, and you are respected! Hats off to the dads! Happy Father’s Day guys!
A personal message to my father: Dad, you are the biggest role model in my life. As a boy I wanted to be like you and to this day I admire and respect you for the man you are. Your integrity, godly example, passion, and work ethic are unmatched, thank you for teaching me to be a man.
Happy Father’s Day to the rock star dads out there!
Make it a great week ahead!