Happy Father's Day
My father was a talented carpenter and craftsman who worked nearly every single day of my young life. As a boy, watching him work with his hands to fix, repair, and make new again various items that people would bring into his shop, was astonishing and impossible to my young mind.
One day when I was with him on a construction site, I wanted so badly to help. In my eagerness to do just that, I was running up some stairs to the second floor, and instinctively put my hand out expecting to find the support of a hand rail that had not yet been built. My wiry 9 year old frame lost its balance and tumbled down like a pile of sticks that had come undone, back to the first floor.
I was fine and without injury (little kids are bendy at this age for this very reason). But that fall scared and shook me of my confidence. I sat in the dirt fighting tears determined not to go back up those stairs. My dad heard my tumble and yelled down from where he was working, “What are you doing down there??”.
Rather than comfort me through my fear, or guide me up the steps hand in hand, he simply told me to get back up when I was ready, and then resumed his work.
My dad knew how badly I wanted to help and he knew that I needed to build back confidence. So, that’s what he gave me that day with that simple statement: Get back up when you’re ready. I finally and tremulously found my way back up the stairs without incident and gained back all the pride and confidence I thought I had lost.
That memory vividly returns to me whenever I’ve found myself “on the ground” throughout the years. The early lesson taught me that I already had everything I needed inside of me to “dust myself off” and continue on.
My dad has been gone for many years now, but his early life lessons continue to live on and shape the man I am. His hard working ethic, his quiet dedication to provide for his kids, and the confidence he helped instill inside of me, I’ll be eternally grateful for. Happy Father’s Day Dad, thanks for everything you taught me, and who you helped me to become.
And Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there trying to instill similar lessons in their own children. Being a dad might always cause you to look back and question whether or not you did the “best thing” or the “right thing” for your kids. Even when you do find yourself in the “on the ground” fatherhood moments, be encouraged that you already have everything you need inside of you to get up again. You never know what memory your kids are going to latch onto and carry with them, or which moment - big or small - will be the one that helps shape the rest of their lives.
Here’s to continuing to make the memories and the moments
for your kids that lead to generational life lessons.