A Tribute to a Dad

Every morning when I drop the kids off at school, I see this one guy, a dad, who goes through the same ritual every single morning. The kids go in a door on the side of the school, and proceed down the hallway almost to the other side of the school to their grade one classrooms. Their classrooms face the front of the school. You can see in the windows right into their class, provided the blinds are open. And every morning, this one dad watches his daughter go in, and then walks to the front of the school and waits until he sees her go safely into the classroom. They wave to each other, and then go on with their days.

I think it is so sweet. The devotion that man has in his eyes. And it's wonderful.

I know many great dads. But I also know many not-so-great dads. So many dads take fatherhood for granted. And yes, so do many mothers, but I see it more often in the dads; their unwillingness to spend extra time with their offspring, to go that extra mile or do more than what's expected of them.

It's sad, really. I have a friend who was recently separated from her husband. Nasty, messy, it's never pretty. They have two young children, aged 7 and 4 at the time. This guy, he never seems to want to take his turn with the children. Now granted, I am only getting one side of the story, but the facts are still the facts, and they do still tell a story. He will only take the children on his appointed days, and anything over and above that is like pulling teeth.

I know that if DH and I ever had something like that happen to us, he would do everything he could to spend time with the boys. He doesn't like being separated from them for long periods of time; he enjoys spending time with them EVERY day. And I know many other fathers that feel the same way.

So even though it's Mother's Day on Sunday, this post is dedicated to all the great fathers out there. Thank goodness there are dads like the one who stands outside the classroom.