Happy Father's Day



My daughter made me this with a little help from Mommie

Happy father’s day to me and to all the fathers out their giving it everything you got to make sure that your family prospers.  

Today is a day of reflection and accomplishment for all that I have been blessed with and for all that I continue to aspire and do for my daughter and family. I reflect on my daughter’s birth and the chill that crawled up my spine as I watched her enter our world. Today I reflect on the overwhelming blessing the lord has given me as a father and a vessel for my daughter. I reflect on the beautiful memories and experience my family and I have been blessed with through the eyes of my daughter. Today I continue to feel the overpowering need to provide for my daughter in surrounding her with love, experiences, laughter, fun… Most importantly I thanked my wife for blessing me with such a spirited and beautiful daughter.

 

On this very father’s day I also reflect on all the fathers who continue to give me advice on the do’s and don’ts. The funny thing is that as a father… I’m going to lend you my ear and not always follow the same path you took. In my own opinion one of the joys of being a father is that you get to try your best in your own way with the support of your wife or life partner to be the role model to your child. Life continues to bless us with unique opportunities in some our child falls and gets a boo boo In others our child trips or scraps his or her arm. Yes, we could have listened to that person’s advice on tying shoes this way not that way. Yet… if we had listened then in the years to come we would have been shy of an experience. An experience that could have filled the family dinner table with laughter, love and fund memories to treasured. So on this father’s day, I’ve learned to always lend my ear to those willing to help here or there such as our parents, friends, or noisy neighbors yet continue to follow your unique parenting style that you and your wife have molded.

There is no wrong or right way when you love your child

Playing with the new rod and reel with Nola!

 

 

Parents and Breaks

 

Only parents can clearly understand the fine line between “breaks” and “parent breaks”. Within the fine line there is even a deeper “break” to those parents who have to broaden their scope and multitask with work and school on top of their already hectic and overwhelming parenting duties.

Here is an idea of what my wife and I do for our breaks ----- some might call “boring activities”

·         Sit outside of Starbucks for a few hours. (This one is my personal favorite considering I love coffee and I love people watching)

·         Watch episodes of our favorite show (… it feels like paradise). Oh nothing comes close to the relief of having no worries for even a few hours.

·         Grab a quick beer (literally one 12 ounce beer) at a local bar and reminisce on our past and the future to come. Funny story: just the other week my wife and are a sitting at a local bar near our undergraduate university (UNC-Greensboro). While sitting there eavesdropping on the conversation of a group of Undergraduates talking about (what time they’ll go home after class, one mentioned needing to call his parents for a new cell phone since his broke, another commented on the difficulties of juggling college life with a part-time job) I wanted to walk over and give them a little clip of the “real world”. But I didn’t, I continued drinking my delicious blue moon and allocated them time to continue to enjoy their busy life of “little to no obligations”. I’m sure all parents say they “miss the college days”. It’s not just the college days but the entire college system of not having anything to do but go to class and talk smack. Although I continued on to graduate school it was not the same L

---All of our “breaks” come to a sudden halt when our phones flash my parents name on it (AKA come get your child she is hungry!). And just like that our “break” is over and we are back to conquering parent duties.

 

Nothing comes close to being with your child

 

Faces of Personalities

 

Our special yet so delicate and beautiful daughter is roughly a week shy of her four month birthday! Who would have thought that I (Juan Santos) would be so excited to celebrate (monthly) birthdays… Yet I am!!! BEYOND WORDS. There literally is no lecture, slide show, presentation, or person who can tell you what it feels to be a “parent”. The feeling is in my own opinion “unique” “individualistic” and in some ways patterned to fit you and yours child unique connection. My daughter in very way is the spinning image of her father and mother. Just today I took her to stay with her grandparents for a few hours while mommy and daddy got a much needed break.

 

 

When we arrived my parents commented that daughter was “fussy at times” or “needing them to do exactly what she wanted in order for her to stay calm”. Interesting I thought to myself. She is literally her father and mother In very way. I tend to get upset or “fussy” at times especially if others do not do as I tell them. My perfect wife can also become “fussy” when people do not do things in the exact way she wants. I was a very mischievous child full of energy, curiosity, and hidden ninja moves that would push any parent towards pulling their hair out. So in more ways than one my daughter is the spinning image of her parents.