Dads

It was a crazy weekend, and my poor hubby was gone on a flight, so he wasn't even around on Father's Day. Meanwhile, I had to hold down the fort with my triathlon team training, birthday parties, and all those dress rehearsals and dance recitals! So I barely got time to think, let alone reflect. Now that life has settled back into a reasonable fascimile of normal though, and after having been able to talk with my own dad this morning, one thing pops out at me. I was lucky enough to marry a guy who's a great father, and I think that's in part due to the fact that I have a great father myself so I know how important it is to me. Still, when we got married kids were the farthest thing on our horizon, so probably there's a huge measure of good luck in there that our priorities turned out to be the same when it came to our family.

My own dad was the kind of father who made it a priority to come home from work and be with us. I love this photo of him with me as a baby, because you can just see the love that is present whenever he was with us kids (also, I can totally see our family resemblance as I look very much like him now that I'm an adult). My childhood memories are of wrestling around the living room, "airplane rides" on his feet when I was small, trips to the park with a huge "Jolly Green Giant" kite, bicycle rides, camping trips, cutting Christmas trees in the forest with a thermos of hot chocolate, card games of "Spite and Malice" (dad's and my favorite) and snowball fights. My husband is also the kind of dad who makes it a priority to be with his kids. When he knew he had to fly this weekend, he made sure to come to Asa's dress rehearsal so he could see her in all of her dances before he had to leave. I'm sure when our kids are grown, they will have memories of wrestling on the bed where they pigpile their dad, bicycle rides, camping trips, walks to the park on summer evenings, merry-go-rounds, family dinners and game nights.

We took this family bike ride a couple of days before he had to leave on his flight. I had gotten the kids to help me get a good photo of them together, and then at the right moment casually suggested that he turn around for a snapshot. Well, he kept leaning on the bike with his ...um.... posterior pointed at the camera, hardly the Father's Day photo I had in mind! I finally got him to turn his butt in the right direction and got a good photo to put in a frame for his desk.

So to all the dads out there who are out there on bike paths and parks, in living rooms and dance recitals supporting their kids: Happy Father's Day. It's more than a Hallmark holiday, it's a time to reflect on the important people in our lives and how much they mean to us. It's not about a BBQ or other presents, it's about your presence in our lives. Thank you Dad! And thank you to my hubby for being the great dad that he is.