Father’s Day Verities
…we’ll keep it short
(Because length doesn’t matter when speaking the truth;)
I would not be who I am today were it not for my father.
Honestly, I would not be here at all.
Yet that is not the point.
Fathers do not require a Y chromosome to hold a sacred fortress of space that makes it possible for loved ones to be nurtured and grow strong.1
Rather, what makes a father a Father is their capacity to stand up for and protect something that matters more than themselves. To wage against entropy in order to create stability. To build a fortress of fortification that harbors what is needed for those they love to thrive.
My father was a teddy bear of Love. He reveled in the minuscule miracles of life and magnified them for all in his presence to see.
He marveled at the luminescence of hummingbirds as if for the first time every time he encountered their whir. He inhaled jasmine on the wind as if the very fuel of his heart. And he melted into the purr of the ever-present cats of his life as if they were the engine of his soul.
Yet his purpose was clear and unwavering as a lighthouse casting reassurance for night travelers at sea in the thickest fog of a San Francisco summer. He was steady. He was ever-present. And he was a harbor of boundless Love wanting only to embrace all in need of a safe place to land.
That was true for his son, his wife, his siblings, and me, and honestly all he encountered.
So today I thank all who show up, day and night, in sunshine, moonlight, as well as all the starless-cloud-covered-stormy thankless moments of days and nights and in-betweens. Thank you for choosing to create space for Good to grow in the world.
Thank you for being Fathers.
None of us would be here without you.
See Mother’s Day Wish post for deeper insight. (Pun intended).