One for the dad's

(Side note-  to the single moms who are dads as well, happy I'm-doing-awesome-all-on-my-own day!  I admire your strength and perseverance.  To the dads doing it on their own, an extra special happy father's day to you.  To the moms raising kids with another mom, happy you're-amazing-parents day!  Here's to ALL parents who love their kids!)

I've certainly been blessed with the right men in my life, as have my daughters.  I didn't always realize this; I'm sure most people don't realize before a certain age how excellent their parents are.  Maybe not even until they become parents themselves.   Nor do we take a moment every day to consider how amazing our husbands/significant others are.  Without mine, I'd probably be a much less balanced and very busy single mom.

I'd have to mow the lawn, back and front, all by myself.

No one would be here to make me coffee before I'm ready to drag myself out of bed.

No one would initiate tickle wars with the girls.

My movie collection would be 1/4 what it is today.

I'd have never learned to love bacon.  And then retrained myself to quit eating it.

I would never have watched Dr. Who.......ok maybe that's stretching it a bit.

I definitely wouldn't have developed such a respect for Superman.

I'd have a cleaner house, but a smaller, emptier bed.

I'd never have revisited my intense love for writing...because there'd be no one behind me pushing me, telling me to follow my heart and do what I love in life.

To the man who loves and raises my first daughter as his own, who sang her to sleep most nights when she was a baby, who did midnight feedings even before we moved in together, a very special daddy indeed.

Adoption day in March of 2009.  So happy.

Without my dad, I'd never have seen the whole country before I turned 13.

I wouldn't have been nearly as confident as I was to travel 1,600 miles from home for college.

Nor would I have had any support to do so, without him.

I wouldn't know as much about cars as I do.

I wouldn't know how to run a plow.

Or have my own snowmobile.

I wouldn't know understanding and infinite patience.

Nor would I then be able to apply it to my own children, comforted by the fact that someday they will appreciate it.

I wouldn't know how to split logs.

I'd have no one to call every other day, even though there is absolutely nothing new to talk about.

To the two men who are the center of my world, the two men responsible for fixing what was broken in my life:

Happy father's day.


 (And to the men who've meant so much to us but are no longer with us,  we miss you today and every other day of the year.  Happy father's day.)