Just a few Father’s Day ramblings and musings…

Sometimes we fathers take for granted that all will be well when our kids are born.

For us guys –stoics all; tough guys until the end – we try to be such so we don’t worry our long-suffering wives or needlessly worry any siblings in the family.

By Michael Powell michael.cherryvilleeagle@gmail.com

It was that way when I first became a father. I tried to be the strong one so my wife, who was in far more REAL pain than I could even imagine (obviously), wouldn’t see the REAL fear in my eyes that our firstborn (our son) might be born with the birth defect which afflicted me. I didn’t know about genetics then; wouldn’t have known a DNA strand had it come up and smacked me in the chops. But I did know all the old wive’s tales about birth defects and such and had already thought the following,

“Oh, my God!

What if my kid, or kids, is/ are born with this?

What if...!” I know now – all needless worrying. Our son and daughter both were born fine; all 10 fingers and toes.

Today, our son and his wife are proud parents of four beautiful kids, and our daughter has blessed us with two beautiful children too. We’re not any different from any other grandparents. We live; we love; we spoil! That’s our jobs, right!?

As you read this, you no doubt have others who are/were like fathers (and mothers) to you. I have been blessed to call many folks such.

I have, in past columns written about them.

While all my surrogate moms were fantastic (and you know who you are!), I want now to remember and thank all the men in my life who stepped up, helping me make it through life (after 15) without a father. They were “legion.” To this day, I owe them for helping “raise me right.” They were men among men. Full disclosure? This statement means many things to many different people. For some it may not reflect pleasant memories, especially if their dads weren’t there for them; abused them, their moms, or their siblings. For others, the notion of a father may mean nothing at all.

Honestly, I don’t know which is sadder: to have known a father and watched him walk away from his duties, or to have never known the man who brought you into this world at all. Your mother certainly didn’t do this all