17 June 2018

Father's Day 2018: 30 Years of Wisdom...

On the dawn of the day in America, known as Father's Day we reflect and we acknowledge him.  For many, their Father was a major influence in their life.  All to often, others never really knew who he was.  Father's are all Operational Risk Management (ORM) professionals in many ways.

This Father has two adult children, a daughter and a son about 19 months apart in their late twenties.  Fatherhood started in mid-September, 1988.  That gives you some perspective on our years of experience together.  So to all those Father's out there, who are planning a family someday, here are a few thoughts.

First off, the role consumes you.  Seeing that first born baby, changes you forever.  You suddenly realize the word "I" is no longer in your vocabulary.  Most certainly, you thought you loved your wife tremendously, before you watched your first daughter born.  Yet the overwhelming feeling of new love you have for your wife at that time and moment, is ever so special.  Incredible!

Second, becoming a Father becomes a life long responsibility and a new life mission.  You find yourself having memory moments, decades later about your children's greatest achievements in life.  The day they walked for the first time.  The special birthday party with friends in that old neighborhood.  The day they walked up on stage to get their College/University Diploma.  At that point in your life, when you were working 12 hour days.

Father's Day as long as you are alive, shall be a day of remembrance, a day of memories and a day of looking into what lies ahead.  You have watched them grow up.  You have counseled them, taught them, trained them and loved them.  When is your role as Father over?  Not until your last day on Earth.

Being a Father makes you a better husband.  It gives you the role of being all those things that your wife can't be or won't be at that particular point in time.  As your kids grow up, you will both find your path, as a mate and a parent.  One thing is for certain.  Being married now 30+ years and raising two kids, who are both college graduates and now in challenging careers, makes you realize you might have made a difference.

Finally, being a Father makes you think about your own Father and how you want to be the same or different.  After all, where did you learn many of the things that will influence how you might parent.  When I saw my Father on the day he died, I cried.  And yet, I saw a look of joy on his face as if to say, I know I was not perfect, but I loved you very much.

On this Father's Day in America, this one is so proud.  This Father loves his wife dearly and realizes that our two kids love us so much too.  Having a son makes you strive to be your best.  To be a model husband, to live ethically, morally and spiritually.  And now that we have a new Son-in-Law, loving him like my own.  Walking my daughter down that aisle, was almost as joyful as the day I saw her born...

Happy Father's Day...Onward!

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