Friday, August 26, 2011

Being a Dad ...

... is the best thing a man can be! I always wanted to be a dad ... my own father died tragically when I was just a toddler, and I had a number of terrific uncles and stand-ins over the years. But being a dad to my own kids was always something I had to be ... When I married Linda a particular bonus was also gaining a six-year old step-son ... Bobby!!! Then ... when I was an elderly 38 years old, Linda, Bobby and I welcomed Kelsie into our lives! Two summers later we said hello to Jarrod. Those arrivals now seem so recent ... like weeks ago instead of 24, 20 and 18 years ago. They grow so fast and at the time I thought there is so much time for school plays, musicals, parent teacher conferences, birthday parties, awkward chats, worrisome nights, bumps, bruises, cuts and scrapes ... but there really wasn't all that much time. Along the way these three brief visitors added friends to the mix ... another Kelsey(with an "ey"), a Trevor, a Vance, an Alicia, Roxy, Amanda, Kate, Shea, Kyle, Adam, Bjorn, Tristen, Adam, Mark, Forrest, Gretchen, Nick, ... many of these call me dad as well ... I love being a dad.