What I Want For Father's Day

Hello my darling children! If you are reading this, then you are at least marginally interested in learning what you can do for me to make me feel like a successful father on Father’s Day. I appreciate your interest, and in order to make your life a little bit easier, I thought I would make my wants and desires clear, for this year and the rest of the years we have together.

1. I want you to be a good person. Remain honest, compassionate, kind and decent. You already have it in you, just nourish it.

2. I want you to be able to rely on yourself before relying on someone else. Be able to fix a flat tire, stop a leaky pipe, re-set the wireless network, or cook a meal – you will be very glad of it one day.

3. I want you to not be afraid to ask for help when you someday need it. And you will need it someday. Don’t let pride or fear keep you from getting assistance.

4. As a corollary to the above, I want you to offer your help to someone else who needs it. There is nothing in this world that can make you feel better than helping someone else out of a jam.

5. When you make a mistake, which you most certainly will – own it. It is your mistake to make. Every time you screw up is one more thing you have learned not to do, so do not avoid your errors.

6. I want you to find something in this world that you are fiercely passionate about, and then pursue that thing with everything you have. Do not ever give less than 110%.

7. I want you to know that even if you are really mad at me, or if you screw up in a really, really big way, I will never love you even a smidgen less. Those times when you are least lovable are the times when I will work to show you how much I love you.

8. I want you to have some appreciation in your life. Either be thankful for the things you have, or be grateful for the things you avoided, but take a moment to recognize how many folks in this world have it a lot worse than you.

9. I want you to be brave enough to fall in love, even though you are certain to get hurt. Trust me when I say that the joys of love are worth every bit of the miseries of being in love.

10. And lastly, I want you to know that your happiness is in your hands, and nobody else’s. You can choose to be happy, you can choose to be mad, or hurt, or afraid. Nothing in this world is good or bad except in how you think of it, how you choose to feel about it.

This is what I want for Father’s Day. But if you made me something with your own two hands, that comes from your heart, that would be pretty cool too.









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