This is a small space I wanted to create for village elders. For the people who have been a part of the majority of my ups and downs as a father, whether you realized it or not. I had a vision for today — I think I do every year — that I had to eventually expand to include the things I had and not the things I wanted.
Parenting is often the same way. That is the lesson I have retained in this 18th year. The idea you have inside your head of who you will be as a father, partner, boss etc…rarely matches up to the real life experience. You must navigate. Pivot. Change. Let go of. Be Open. The magic or “skill” of being a father has been doing these things inside gaps of uncertainty and still thriving inside them. Knowing they are coming means preparing for them to. Recognizing when they are changing in ways you hadn’t anticipated is something else all together.
You. You reading these words are the only way any of that was possible. Being a parent is a group project, don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. I am handing in my paper in today. The village has done it’s job. It has served it purpose. And I am forever grateful.
EMPATHY - To me being a parent means having your heart walk outside your body daily.
To get it right. To get it wrong. You don’t have an unlimited amount of “do-overs”. Eventually you will have to reap what you have sown.
Thankfully, I have reaped a plentiful harvest.