Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This weekend I made the trek back to work for the first time in months. I was anxious, nervous, excited, and little annoyed at times, but blessed to be doing something I love that allows me to provide for my family. Working over father’s day weekend isn’t the ideal situation, but dealing in unideal situations is what fatherhood is all about.
The whole weekend felt familiar, “just like riding a bike,” as they say. I spend a lot of time on my bike and as familiar as I am, and as familiar airports and simulators felt, there were some new wrinkles.
Wearing masks, social distancing, empty gatehouses and security lines, there were plenty of new wrinkles to go with the familiar environment of the airport. The whole scenario made me think of my two boys.
As a father to two young boys I often find myself in a rhythm of sorts in how I interact with them. El Duderino, the 2 ½ year old, loves to go outside and dig in the dirt with his work trucks, and Speedy, at 12 weeks old is just starting to appreciate daddy’s funny faces in his increasing awake time.
They are both growing so fast, and every few weeks, the groove we found ourselves in shifts. For El Duderino before the digging in the dirt it was racing trucks down a cardboard ramp, and for Speedy it was basically sleeping. The point is, fatherhood is a constant journey of familiar, with a new wrinkle.
As the boys continue to grow and their personalities continue to fill in and evolve, so do their needs and wants. So as their father, the target is always moving.
When I look back on how much I have changed in the last 2 ½ years since El Duderino was born, I can only imagine the type of moving target my brother and I presented for our father.
Raising two boys (at least one of which may or may not have had some anger issues as a young boy) across state lines is a daunting challenge for anyone. Add in a job that requires frequent travel and I marvel at the job my dad did raising us.
Do it right the first time, and take pride in your work, were lessons he always tried to drive home. He always encouraged us to do what we wanted, so long as we had considered the risks.
When I consider my own position as a father of two young boys, trying to raise them across state lines, with a job that requires lots of travel, I can only hope to do as good of a job as he did. And I hope that when he looks it me, it seems familiar, with a few wrinkles.
Happy father’s day.
Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.
