First Father's Day

For my legions of readers, you can expect three things:
1.    For me to post approximately every 7-10 days for now. I currently have enough material to take me October at that pace, though I anticipate plenty more topics to arise.
2.    For me to post about more than bodily functions, on occasion.
3.    For me to strive to entertain you as often as possible, while sometimes being serious.

On that note, today is Father’s Day and I am lucky.

My father remains the most honorable, respectable man I’ve known. You’d really have to know how much I admired him growing up and the thousands of other adult men I’ve encountered in my life since to understand the gravity of that last statement. He may not have taught me how to tie my show or how to fix the washing machine, but he most certainly showed me how to be a decent human being. I continue to strive for that every day.

While mom had an equal impact on my life, I am focusing on dad given the occasion and the nature of this blog.

His efforts seem to be paying off. I have some small amount of respect in the community. I hold ethics in high regard and concern myself always with how right and wrong factor into my life and the lives of those around me. With the combined intelligence from both parents, I’ve succeeded in school and, by some measure, in life on my own. I can support a family alone if I had to.

My thinking around this day predominantly focused on my own dad and one uncle in particular. Later, my brother in law and then an increasing number of close friends landed on my Father’s Day radar, guys doing the best they can to provide for and co-raise beautiful kidlings.

The recent launch of this blog is fortuitous. This year, this spring, I have begun to finally understand … a tiny bit … the ups and downs of this dad thing. Who knew a Guinea pig could be so complicated?

Seriously, the future wife and I had no idea just three months ago how her children would react to me in their lives, let alone in their home. Their instant adoption of me and my quirks truly has been surprising to me. As a result, I’m really starting to “get” it. Having little people depend on you – for guidance, for arbitration, for entertainment, for comfort and protection – is pert’ near the best life experience I’ve had.

Each day, I try to find a moment or three to reflect on the many parts of my life, the people in it and the experiences I’ve had for which I am thankful. Weighed down occasionally by circumstances, I sometimes struggle with honoring this ritual. Unknowingly, the future wife and the boy and girl remind me constantly what it is to be loved and how lucky I truly am to be a new dad.

Happy Father’s Day to those to whom it applies, and happy Sunday to the rest of you. Excuse my digression from fecal follies. Next up, “The Bird Bath.”