Chips off the old block.

What makes someone a good father?

Is it the number of teams you coach for your kids?
Is it the number of dance or piano recitals you attend?
Is is the number of knots you fail to tie or tents you fail to pitch perfectly at boy scout camp?

The answer:
Yes. And no.

Is it the number of hours you work to provide the financial resources to attend boy scout camp?
Is it the number of baseball or football games you miss because of work?
Is it the number of sales calls you make to afford the new piano or guitar that make the recital possible?

The answer:
No. And yes.

Being a father is a balancing act of massive proportions. I honestly believe that being a mother is easier than being a father. Before you freak out (Moms)...

Imagine a rock, for argument's sake, that was "conceived" by virtue of two rocks rubbing against each other. The mother rock, in this case, gets larger while the baby rock is in incubation. They are one rock and they carry on like this for nearly a year like best friends with worlds of familiarity until the baby rock splits off one day and (yes, all the horrible pain of childbirth included) baby rock then immediately turns around and begins latching back on to Mama rock by design (in order to keep the natural order of the universe intact.) Meanwhile, proud Papa rock sits in the waiting room hoping that baby rock will even remotely resemble his shade and strata so that his friends don't make fun of him. Forget about how he's gonna pay for this avalanche...

Papa rock, you see, is not really a big part of the deal.

Salmon, whales, tigers (who eat their kids), and turtles are all the same. Absent as fathers from the beginning. Only in Emperor Penguins do the fathers suffer more than the mothers for the birth of the baby.*

*As far as I've ever learned from Nat Geo and that dancing penguin movie.

So, Dads, we have to earn it.

One dollar, one hour, one smile, one tempestuous fight at a time. We have to introduce ourselves to our kids in a way that mothers don't. We have to prove to our powerful mates that we have the right stuff to lead this bandwagon to the promised land. We have to show our daughters and sons that we are wise enough, sturdy enough, envisioned enough and loving enough to be their father. It's a difficult task.

Nobody ever questions who their mother is...but we all know the saying, "Who's your Daddy?"

Why?

I'll tell you why. Because your Daddy is the one who you listen to, respect and follow because he told you he was your Daddy. And he didn't lie about it. How else would you know?

I think that a good father has three traits:

-Love
-Compassion
-Balls

Take that however you will...there are many definitions for those words.

On this Father's Day, I want to thank my own father for having all three, though not necessarily all of them at the same time. We are all human, as it turns out. He is a man of great conviction, love and support. He has never wavered from his path and he is learning so many lessons as he grows and ages that I can truly be proud that anyone can ask me, "Who's your Daddy?" and I know the answer without a shadow of a doubt.

I hope my boys have the same red phone hotline my old man gives me. I hope they get the same amount of rope he gave me to go find my L,C and B.

Most of all, I hope he knows I love him and wish him a great Chip Off the Old Block Day.