Community Corner

What My First Father's Day Means to Me

After 10 months of being a dad, I have learned more than I ever thought possible

Today officially marks my first Father's Day, and people have been asking me for weeks how I feel about being able to take part in this long standing tradition. 

For the last 29 years I have celebrated Father's day with my dad, my step-dad, my grandparents and all the other fathers in my family. But this is the first time that I will be seeing the day from the other side.

Maybe by the time today is done, or in 18 years when my daughter is driving and threatening to go out on a date, or for some strange reason disagreeing with me I will feel differently. But for whatever reason I have felt like every day is Father's Day. 

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After all, how can I not feel like the luckiest guy in the world when this beautiful little girl smiles at me. And now when she starts crawling toward me I absolutely feel like I'm bursting with pride. I don't know how any day in particular could feel better than that until the day she calls me daddy for the first time. 

Yesterday when I started writing this my daughter was laying on my wife's legs being tickled and giggling uncontrollably. It wasn't Father's Day, but it still made me smile and laugh just to see how happy she was. I don't need a special day to have a special feeling like that.

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Father's Day is supposed to be the day when we pay tribute to our dads and thank them for all they did, and I fully intend to do that for all the other patriarchs in the family. When it comes to my family though, I'll just be thankful for the little girl who makes me smile more than I ever thought possible and the woman who brought her into my life. 

Hope you all have the very best of Father's Days whether it's your first, your 50th or anywhere in between, before or after. 


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