I love being a dad…
Most days.
However, being a father to two teenagers and a new baby tends to lend itself to days where I want to throw-in the towel & call it quits…that’s normal, right? Hey – don’t judge! I said most days…not everyday can be sunbeams & rainbows. I guess when your entire adulthood life has been consumed by runny-noses and the ever dreaded statement echoing the house, “I’m bored”, you reach a point when you feel like you are up to your neck in kid issues and Kleenex & you can’t remember your own dreams… you feel like you lost who you are. No, wait – I’m a dad, but is that how I am defined?
I’m a firefighter, photographer, bottomless bank account, magician, mathematician, mac repairman, scientist, soccer shuttle driver, organizer, driver’s-ed instructor, head bottle washer, back-up baby to bed director, assistant diaper changer…oh yeah – I’m a husband too…in my spare time…does that seem right?
I don’t think so.
So, then again, who am I? What defines us as a person, as an individual? Is it our actions…thoughts….our children…maybe our spouses or our career’s? Who really knows. Am I lost in the world of being a parent?
Probably.
I guess I’m in a parenting “rut” looking for the answers – but perhaps this is the answer…the real world. I don’t know.
But one thing I know for sure…when that baby looks-up at me and gives me the biggest smile I have seen all day…everything I do, makes that one moment totally worth it. Or when out of nowhere, a teenager says “thank you”…yes, just a simple “thank you” every once and a while is all I need to bring me back to center. Then at the end of each marathon day, I lay in bed with my beautiful wife & I realize how blessed I am…and I give thanks!
~ Happy 1/2 Birthday Pierce ~
