The Magic of Fatherhood

I am watching my boys grow at a spectacular rate.

Spectacular because they are growing big, strong, and healthy, but at the same time they just keep growing. Relentless in this goal  to break free of the title of my “little boys”.  That time will be here sooner than I know it and part of me dreads it.

I was doing a card trick for my youngest son tonight. It delights him every time I do it. His eyes light up, his face is always brilliant with wonder as he turns over the card to reveal the one he had selected at the beginning of the trick.

I am still magic to him… to them… for now.

That won’t always be the case… one day they will figure out my trick.  They will be able to do it for themselves and that magic will become a memory.

The next few years I have with them are about transitioning the magic and wonder they have in me into a relationship that will weather the tempestuous adolescent years that loom before us.

That magic is a gift you see; it forms a bond between us that is hard to put into words. If nurtured that bond will help them see me as a source of healing when they are hurt, sad, angry, and heartbroken. If nurtured that bond will help them see me as a source of wisdom when they are lost, confused, scared, and frustrated. If nurtured that bond will help them have a piece of home stay with them wherever they go as they set off on their own grand adventures and blaze their own trails.

I don’t have the answers, I don’t have the recipe, all I can say is I have no intention to miss these things:

• Telling them I love them every single day.
• Exploring their interests as I would my own.
• Encouraging them in their passions not necessarily mine.
• I won’t sweat the small stuff, it won’t matter in the long run.
• Laughing with them every chance I get.
• Letting them see me cry so that they know that I care.
• Holding them close when they need it so they know I’ll be there.

There are probably a thousand other things that I need to do, I’ll keep my eyes open for them along the way.

My boys are still “little” and I am still “magic” so I’ll start with that list and just keep adding to it, and one day hopefully they might just come to me and ask how I did it and the first thing I’ll say is “I loved you every single day, and the rest, the rest was magic”.

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(This post originally appeared on The Good Men Project )