Sunday, June 21, 2015

Father's Day 2015

I'd been awake for about five seconds this morning when my two kids came running in my room and yelled "Happy Birthday" and threw a gift bag on my bed.  By the time I heard them say "let me help you with that, daddy!" they were already dumping the two shirts inside the bag on my head.  Then they ran out.

15 seconds later--as if dissatisfied with their sneak attack--they ran back in the room yelling, "SAY THANK YOU, DADDY!"  I did and I can truly say that I am very thankful this morning.

Just six Father's Days ago, my hopes of becoming a father seemed to be constantly getting place on hold, but now it's become normal life.  Now our kids have just finished kindergarten, they're in the middle of swimming lessons, they're off to vacation Bible school.  They live that awesome life that kids should live in every city, in every neighborhood and on every street and we want that for them.  We believe that the extraordinary that they bring to ordinary life will be what propels their future.

There really is no explanation of how your heart can expand to the place where you seem to live and breathe through somebody else.  Having little kids does that to you.  They're so trusting and dependent that every detail is carefully planned to make every day a success.  Every toy they own, meal they eat, song they sing has to get by me first.  It's almost like I live their life before they live it.

I enjoy being a father and even usually enjoy the meticulous decision-making process Anne-Marie and I go through to make all this stuff come together every week.  At the same time, I'm under no illusions about the season of life we're in.  Soon the kids will want to make all their own decisions and I might even let them sometimes.  The clock of inevitability is ticking on our dependents' dependency.  

So for now we'll soak it all in.  Father's Day will make itself special because it's a recognition of all that happens at home every single day.  And somehow we'll accept the fact that the greatest time in our kids' childhood is already marked on my calendar.  It's today.

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