Happy Father’s Day!

So, I’ve been involved in this wild ride over the past 9 weeks. Blended learning is NOT for the faint of heart! …. and I’ve been teaching now for 17 years! (Happy 17th to me! LOL)

Anyway… Usually Val and I have an entire week of celebrations for our Daddies! We invite them to come read for us during the week and on Friday they come in for the whole day and share with us about their jobs, life lessons and anything else they want to share about. It’s a fantastic experience! I LOVE it every year.

This year, of course, that was not possible but we decided to still give something as we think the connection is important. We assigned a Daddies Project a couple weeks ago and the kiddies to present it to us last Thursday. I felt a little guilty that we didn’t arrange to do a craft thing instead but once they started presenting I quickly realised that THAT was what we needed. The love, admiration and sheer JOY came straight through the computer screen and settled over me like a blanket! Even my big burly boys were grinning talking about their daddies – maybe I should say especially them…

They interviewed their daddies and had to ask about their jobs, how they felt being a daddy and any lessons they wanted to share and, of course, the kiddies had to include how they felt chatting with their daddies and carrying out the projects.

Y’all! I NEVER thought I would have been SO emotional. Those children LOVE their daddies SO MUCH! I don’t know if the Daddies even know how powerful they are. It was an absolutely fantastic experience hearing them speak of their daddies – BEAMING all the way through the presentations. They spoke of how much they loved their daddies, how much they enjoyed spending time with them to ask the questions and how they enjoyed learning new things about them. They spoke of how strong their daddies were and how well they take care of them. Some daddies even shared their weaknesses and what they see as their downfalls being a daddy! Y’all! Many never even knew what their daddies did for a living. They also shared the cutest Daddy and Me selfies and Video snippets of some of the interviews.

I’m getting emotional thinking about it now.

My own experience with Fathers has been up and down.

I finally disconnected myself from my biological father 3 years ago or should I say I released myself from a toxic relationship/non-relationship and forgave myself for failing to make him love me. I had spent the better part of the previous 19 years trying to establish a relationship. Making dates, suggesting outings, reconnecting with the WHOLE rest of his family! My siblings and I have a much better relationship because of our efforts… We even went so far as to say we were not interested in the drama he had with our mothers. We were begging him to see us as the wonderful individuals we were and love us just like that. Well, that proved difficult, and when his entire family showed up at my wedding, without him, I had had enough.

The funny thing is my mother never bad talked him. The snarky and sarcastic comments I heard about him were as an adult, from other adults who knew he was my father, or from my siblings and I (LOL). My mother never diminished him in my eyes, though he’d left her while she was pregnant and Lord knows, that could have brought a WHOLE lot of bitter feelings.

I can recognise now that I deal with serious feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt as a result of my failed relationship with him. I also have a serious fear of rejection and not being enough… (my poor husband..LOL). I am actively working through these things, and have been for the past several years. My husband is actively building my belief in myself – without my prompting. He thinks I’m invincible y’all and can conquer the world. Yes, I know, I’m lucky!

My journey with Daddies is NOT all bad though, as I believe I was blessed with one of the best step-daddies in the world. Many people don’t even know he’s not my biological dad. Seriously.. I posted about him this week on fb and people were still messaging me in surprise! He has been great. We had a short rough-ish patch in my twenties – navigating our way after the divorce I think – but we’re LONG past that and we are better than ever now. I’m so proud of how he continues to grow and be who he is and I hope I can make him proud as well. He’s so cool, calm and collected. I really am blessed to have him to bounce ideas off of and as someone in my corner.

Did I mention that I’m lucky. I’m also blessed. Thank you Daddy! I love you.

Daddies, your power is LIMITLESS! Use it for good.

You are our HEROES. Never doubt your influence. We love you.

Happy Father’s Day!