The Best Man I Ever Knew

What do you want your kids to say about you when they are grown?

The Dad I Want to Be

A new question came to my mind when I became a father. When I was young, single, and ambitious, I could live for myself without consequence and pursue whatever I wanted to pursue. That was still true when I married the love of my life but when I became a father I began to realize that my life was no longer my own. Now I had to live knowing children were fully dependent on me. It is a feeling impossible to describe but every dad knows something shifts the first time you hold your son or daughter.

Even if you have you stuff together, an urgency comes over you to get your stuff together.

I began to ask myself “what kind of dad to I want to be?” which is a hard question to answer because what I am really asking is “what do I want my children to say about me when they are adults?”

Listen to how Theodore Roosevelt described his father in his autobiography:

“My Father, Theodore Roosevelt Sr, was the best man I ever knew. He combined strength and courage with gentleness, tende…