Father's Day Thoughts

Today is a weird day for me.

At first it was horrible. I dreaded the day each year when it came up. It was Father’s Day and my Father was gone. It was rough day and a harsh reminder of it each year.

It’s been almost fourteen years now and the day still isn’t easy. I don’t dread it like I used too. To say I enjoy it would be dishonest. I feel left out. I feel like I don’t have a purpose. If I was to get on social media, I would see post after post related to Father’s Day. Wives praising their husbands for being great fathers to their children. Children praising their father’s for how much they mean to them. My father has passed and at this point in my life I don’t have children of my own.

I decided to do things differently today. Instead of staying home and sinking into a dark place thinking bout my Dad. I’m out on the golf course. I’m playing a game I enjoy. I’m the only one playing but I’m not alone. I’m getting as close as I can to spending time with my Dad.

I wanted to do this for a reason. I wanted to spend time with my thoughts. Time thinking about my Dad and what he meant to me.

When my Dad passed away, I was tortured for years with regret. I was like many kids are in their early 20’s I had a strained relationship with my Dad. Instead of thinking he was helping me I thought the opposite. I thought he was trying to hold me down. Not letting me be my own person. He would give me advice and I thought there was no way he could understand what I was going through. I never thought my time with his limited. I took it for granted and thought he would always be around.

Then he passed away.

I only got 23 years with him and I spent the last few of those wasting that time with insignificant and trivial issues. Issues that at 37 I can say were almost completely my fault.

If you read this today, I hope you have a great relationship with your father. I hope you have a great relationship with both of your parents. I hope you appreciate everything they do for you. I hope you realize that when you think they don’t understand or aren’t letting you live the life you want; they are just trying to help.

Hopefully you will have many more years with them. Unfortunately, that’s isn’t guaranteed. I went to sleep one night after talking to my Dad and him telling him that he loved me. I didn’t know that would be our final conversation. He was gone two days later.

Don’t be like me. Don’t be one of those children that wasted the time they had with their parents. Hug your dad’s today. Make sure they know how much you appreciate them. Make sure they know how much you love them. If you don’t have the best relationship with them, I encourage you to do what you can to fix it.

You don’t want to look back and realized you wasted the years you had with them. You only have one Dad and one Mom. Make the most of your time with them.