What is or makes a father? Fathers come in all shapes, sizes, and types. I personally have two awesome fathers, my dad and my step-dad. Like most children, there were things about my father that I wanted to change as he raised me but my fondest memories of my dad include him encouraging me to play sports, time spent instilling a hard work ethic in me, including me in politics and Biblical conversation, as well as a genuine desire for his kids to have the best, well-rounded, full life. My father has been a paraplegic my whole life but don’t tell him that! He has always taught and lived life as being an overcomer of his circumstances and he gets inventive to overcome his wheelchair. He believes in the American dream of a hard day’s work equals a full life and happiness. He is a living example that it is true!
My step-father came into my life when I was 20 years old and he helped bring our family back together after some rocky times. My stepdad is known for creating the fun, his big love, and letting you know when you’re feeling sorry for yourself (in a loving way). He is always ready with advice or a story that connects to what you’re going through. Through adulthood both of my fathers have done everything in their capacity to provide, help, and drop whatever they were doing to come to their kids' side!
Both of my fathers are great men that I have the privilege to call MINE!
The other father I know well is my husband. He was a father when I met him so I’ve been lucky to watch him grow as we had our two kiddos together. We grew from single parents to sharing parenting responsibilities. Our parenting styles are completely different (as are our personalities) but we’ve found a way, time and again, to compromise and continue to work together to create the best for our kiddos. He is a great father to our 5 children! I love to watch him play with our kids, stay calm in the middle of the chaos, and create adventures for them most weekends. He incorporates them into work around the house and works with them even when they don’t want to do something. He even makes going to the dump fun!
Of course, we all have our favorite “famous fathers”. Will Smith in the Pursuit of Happyness, Chevy Chase in National Lampoon, Steve Martin in Cheaper by the Dozen, Denzel Washington in John Q. and Remember the Titans, Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, Milo Ventimiglia as Jack Pearson in This is Us, Robert DeNiro in Meet the Parents, Eugene Levy in American Pie, Sean Connery in the three Indiana movies. The list goes on but those are some of our reader favorites! I believe the biggest commonality of all these famous fathers is that they remind us of our own fathers! No one has a perfect dad (or mom) but we can all agree that fathers try their best regardless of circumstances. A father’s love is different from a mother’s and that is what makes their relationship so unique!
This Father’s Day, say thank you to that one or two persons who were your “father”! Many folks have multiple fathers, teacher/coaches as fathers, mothers for fathers, or just that one person who was willing to do the tough stuff with or for you. Say thank you to that person and let them know their impact on your life!
“If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons.” – James Arthur Baldwin (American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist)
