Fathers of the world, we salute you

Dads of the world, I salute you. You’re not mothers. You’re your own thing. Your own way of bonding, loving, disciplining, never-dressing-them-in-enough-layers of a thing.

You make Saturday mornings the most sought-after real estate. You can make anything fun and everything safe.

My own dad still makes life easier for his five kids. His neverending devotion to finding the right rug for our houses, the best Indian fare for dinner, the best baby holder in the hammock.

 

I’m simply the mom so I don’t know how it feels to be the dad. I know you need the garden to make something right with your hands at the end of the day. I know you need to read a book with our fiercest firiest child, that second-born daughter. I know the baby’s open toothed kisses on your nose in the morning make you laugh. I know pitching and hitting with the big boy is your love language to each other.

The days blur together but that underdog push on the swing at the park? The look on your daughter’s face? That’s never leaving your mind’s eye. That look when your son holds his cousin? These moments are forever.

I think of the two men who are godfathers to my three kids, my brother being pressed for into service for both his nephews. I think on their spiritual fatherhood and the wonderful example of humility and strength they are. I think on the endless love lavished on our daughter by her godpapa whose music we listen to daily and whose voice brightens the whole room. These godly men we ask to help safeguard our children, this is their day, too.

like how i’m slipping my mantle in here? I gave AA these Sacred Heart & Immaculate Heart images for his birthday!

Fathers, thank you for being the men we need you to be, especially if you’re married to a particularly demanding mother like me 😉

Happy Father’s Day!