Upcoming Day of Honor

I come from a lineage of great dads.

From as far back as the stories go, I can see that my family is rich in fathers who put time and love into their kids.

I am glad there is a day of honor for fathers, especially this year, as my husband is first-timer. Last year we were pregnant with our girl; this year he can truly claim fatherhood and I am proud of him in his new role.

I am also happy to honor my dad. He was the hands-on dad who took us camping and biking, taught us how to swim, and gave us a great example on how to be honest and hardworking. Now he is a first-timer too: a grandfather.

It's true that some men do hardly more than supply the winning gamete in the adventure of raising children but there are plenty of men who do a lot more. Plenty of men dig right in and get their hands dirty with their kids. Men sit down to the table and help for hours with homework, men take the kids on adventures, men cook, clean, and change diapers. Both my dad and my husband fit into that category and I believe they deserve an entire day of honor every year for it.

My husband did not grow up knowing his father and there were times as we were getting ready to become parents that I wondered how he would know to be a good father. I was raised by a Class-A dad as well as an awesome mom so I felt like I had a good feel for how to love my child. How does a fatherless man know what his role is as a father? My questions have been answered as he fell right into being a dad. He has embraced fatherhood with full force, his love for our girl grows daily. I have no more worries, needless to say, about his capacity for fatherly love. He clearly loves our baby as much as I do and our love for each other grows because of it.

So, here we are, a family now, complete with both of our experiences and histories coming together to create a new flavor of child rearing unique to our family. Dedicating a day to fathering is really great, but we should never take good fathers for granted. I am thankful for my own dad and for my husband every day of the year.

So if you have great dads in your life, enjoy honoring them this Sunday!