47 Project

I can’t think of a bigger honor for a man than that of the opportunity to be a father.

The honor of being a father is filled with the most extreme rewards and challenges. Before you are a parent and are in the stage of thinking about being one, you are concentrating on all the joys and trials that are written about in parenting magazines, books, and articles. You are juggling all the scenarios of love and strain that you’ve witnessed with other family members or close friends that have kids when you are visiting each other. You have a list of ideals you hold onto based on how you were raised and all the things you plan on instilling in your children, or not instilling in them.

When they enter the world though, something starts to happen that we fathers aren’t prepared for. It’s the biggest gift that my boys have given me thus far. It’s a gift that can’t be taught in a class, written in a book, or learned and prospered from by any other means than to actually experience it for yourself.

Raising my 3 boys has taught me what unconditional love really is. During my time as a father I’ve been not only blessed with the opportunity to raise my sons to be humble, respectful men, but also to have these 3 young people in my life that love me in a way that no one other than God could. That is something that continues to blow my mind, break down emotional struggles from my own childhood, and allow me the opportunity to reconstruct who I am as a man from the ground up, the opportunity to aspire to be at least close to what I know they are gonna be. No advice, counselor, good friend, or other family member could do that for me like my own sons have. For that I’m eternally grateful and humbled. I love you Simon, Ethan and Liam and look forward to a long life with you guys.

Happy Father’s Day to all you involved fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers and anyone else that has stepped up to the plate to take a father figure role in someone’s life. You have one of the most rewarding jobs on the planet. Your impact on future generations is huge.

Onward.