Father's Day

For Father's Day this year I want to honor three new fathers in our family - well, two of them are new fathers. One is new to his fourth child!

First - my son. Joe has wanted to be a daddy since he was a little kid. I remember talking with him about what he wanted to be "when he grew up." He always said he never wanted a job where he had to sit at a desk all day. Funny that he is now in the computer field and basically sits at a desk! But here was his primary goal. He said, " I don't want to be rich. But I want to have a job where I can make enough money that my wife and I can have a nice house, a couple of kids, take vacations, and have all my friends and their kids over for BBQs." Now he has that. It's been such fun to see him with his high school friends and their families - little kids everywhere. Now he has one of his own,- little Tyson. And once he starts sleeping at night again, I know he'll truly enjoy being a father.


Next, my brother. He and his wife had child #4 - baby Alex - just two weeks before Tyson was born. With four kids, Tony has a very active family life (that's putting it mildly!!), but he always has time for each of his kids. They obviously adore him and he's been a truly wonderful dad.

And, third, my nephew Dale. Two months ago he had his first child, also a boy (yes, there was definitely a run on boys in our family this year) named Evan. We visited them on our recent trip to Tucson and it's such fun to see my little nephew being a daddy. He's still in the wide-eyed "what the crap do I do??" stage. But he'll learn. They all do eventually.

So to my three special dads, and to all the dads out there - Happy Father's Day. I always remember something my grandmother told me when I was very young. "Any man can be a father, but it takes a special man to be a 'Daddy'."