I think... I hope... I have enough material. I'll post my message next week and you can judge for yourself. But the bottom line is I'll only get to half the message.
There's a paradox in Father's Day - all us fathers were all once sons. We still are. Although we added a new job to our resume, we are all still what we were first - kids.
I call this a paradox because those little angels who look up at us with their innocent eyes assume that, as tall people, we must have all the answers, we must be professionals at this career of parenting.
In reality, I still desperately want to go to a lake and chunk rocks and watch the ripples. I still want to stay up late and sleep in. I want to plop fizzies and count fireflies. I still want to be the way I discovered the world - innocent, inquisitive, and happily restless.
When I was a lad I liked apple juice. I drank it frequently into early adulthood. Then something odd happened. I became a father. And the pitcher of amber ambrosia in the fridge was now for the young'uns. I put away children's things. Sure, I could enjoy a pitcher all to myself now. But it wasn't the juice. It was being a kid and drinking the juice. That's the part that's not in the fridge.
I love my four boys. More than they'll know... until they have kids, and find an indescribable love, and forsake apple juice and become the Knower-of-Everything and Giver-of-Allowance. For the time being, I know something they don't. It's good to be the dad.
Between now and Father's Day, PLEASE read this excellent short essay by an acquaintance of mine. It moved me.
Clark H Smith
