By accident, I stumbled across a folder on my computer hard drive that has not been accessed since 2012.. Seemingly not that long ago in years, in at least in theory. But when I looked through the contents, I suddenly realized how much time had passed..
Contained within the computer save point: Photographs dating back ten years to a trip my wife and I took to Asbury Park NJ to see Lisa Marie Presley. More pictures of family, people who have passed away since they smiled for the shot.. A few photos before my son’s birth, in 2010, when parenting wasn’t on our minds.. The way we changed in 2011 after having a son.. and in 2012.. Our styles, our hair, my hairline.. the very core and structure of our lives altered incredibly throughout the previous ten years. I looked through the pictures for at least two hours after my wife and son fell asleep.. I couldn’t stop. I became suddenly addicted to studying each photo, over and over, seeing if I missed something the first time. I placed myself in the shot again, tried to relive the memory.. But so many have become fuzzy. A photo can bring some recollections racing back. But the haywire act of living so often forces us to forget the important things.
For me..looking through these photos was an important thing.
I love father’s day.
Not because of a few gifts that my wife and son give me, and not because of the language of some hackneyed card … No, I love it for deeper reasons. I love being a father. It’s the single handled most important job I have ever held in my life.. It’s endless world. You’re on call 24/7, and you’re constantly trying to plan future work events while the present time does its best to throw off the routine of life. It’s challenging and rewarding.. It’s amazing and scary. It’s every single emotion piled onto each other with a bow on top..
There are very important people relying on my.. Very important plans yet to be completed.
I was a young subscriber to TIME magazine, and I remember getting this issue in 1993. I now look back … I was 13 then and I am 34 now.
And I am a father.
I am what I’d never thought I’d be when I was 13. But now I am completely fine with that… I love it.
I wonder what will be on TIME magazine when he is 13. I wonder if there will be a TIME when he is 13……….
Regardless of what modern thrill or shrill spill takes place.. Life will continue.
My son will keep aging. I will age faster.
And I will be a dad for the rest of my life..
FATHERHOOD indeed.
Happy father’s day to those in the camp.