Father's Day

Father's Day.  Another Hallmark-created, over-commercialized, pseudo-holiday to generate sales revenue much like Valentine's Day and other nonsensical days which have their own specialized greeting cards.  I may have overstated that a little but that's been my general outlook over the years.  Gifts aren't really my love language and honestly I don't think us men need to be recognized for doing what we're supposed do, especially considering that none of us come anywhere close enough to the standard God set for us to deserve any sort of reward. 

What I have realized, however, is that this day serves as a reminder of the true and continuous reward of being a father, the honor of having little eyes constantly on you and little hearts anxiously awaiting your arrival each evening when you return home.  Maybe your specialty is fighting off monsters, drinking imaginary tea, or hosting awesome dance parties in order to impart your whiteboy dance skills on the next generation.  Whatever it may be, these are the true rewards of fatherhood that will be remembered by you and your kiddos for many years to come.

The truth is, while packing and unpacking 100lbs of stuff at the baseball field in 100 degree heat 5 or 6 times this weekend, taking 400 potty trips, and opening pistachios for 3yr olds until my fingertips bleed only loosely falls under the categorization of vacation, I wouldn't have it any other way.  The moments in between and even during the trying times are what us men were created for and what defines us. Sure, there are times when I'd love to jump on my motorcycle and cruise around all day with no agenda but there's way more reward in the crazy life I live now, plus the motorcycle is long gone, to the benefit of my insurance premiums and likely my lifespan.  To some, the minivan that replaced it would be a death sentence but I've learned to embrace it as a badge of honor, a rolling showcase of blessings that packs 283 one-wheel-tire-frying horsepower under the hood and a home-built storage box full of redneck engineered family utility in the rear. Thank you dodge for the 6 seats and pentastar v6 that makes almost 3x the horsepower of my first car.

All that to say I'm very thankful for the life I've been blessed with and am happy Hallmark has created a day to remind me of that.  Oh and I am looking forward to a new set of lithium Ion batteries for my power tool set which will eventually be used to build a sweet treehouse, with all the proper safety measures of course...