A Father's Memory

Father's Day will be here soon and, although they are always on my mind, my thoughts begin to turn to my children and when they were all young. One of my fondest memories of those days days is the unshakable belief that I was the strongest, smartest, bravest, biggest father in the world. I'm not alone in this either.

The look of absolute faith in their eyes makes you almost believe it yourself. It makes you want to live up to that expectation. It's only a short time and you know that the time will come when one by one, they begin to realize; you are not the strongest, the smartest, the bravest or the biggest, you are just a man trying to do the best with what you have. The beauty of it though is that they see your mistakes and shortcomings and they love you anyways, in fact they love you more.

I remember when my son and I would stand in front of a mirror to see if he had finally passed me up. It seemed, at the time, that he never would and then one day I found myself looking up to my son. He stands about an even six feet now. My little buddy is now my big buddy and I wouldn't have it any other way

They all found out that I wasn't the smartest just about the time they entered high school, when they realized I was no help to them with their homework, especially math. They all surpassed me years ago and again, I wouldn't have it any other way

All my children have met and surpassed our expectations My wife and I could not be prouder. Our oldest granddaughters will be entering their senior year later this year. They are taking it another step forward and preparing for collegeThis is how it should be.

When they were all young two of my favorite battle cries (and it was often a battle) were “I'm your father not your friend” and “This is a dictatorship not a democracy and I'm the dictator!”

Now they are all grown up, all the girls are mothers and my son lives far from home They are still our children, time does not change that but they are also our best friends and confidants and we sometimes need their advice, Things change but the love is always there

This father (and their mother) really want three things: He wants his children to be better than him, he wants them to be happy and he wants them to know God! Everything else will fit in between these things