Father's Day

 

I can't even being to tell you how special my dad is to me. I love him more than life itself. Even though he's 300 miles away, I always know that I can call my dad anytime and just talk to him and I will usually feel better about whatever it is that's bothering me at the time. He always makes me feel like I can take on the world and it will be ok. He has confidence in me to do whatever I want to and even when I KNOW he thinks I've absolutely lost my mind, he still makes me feel like everything will be okay. I hate that we don't get to see him very often but that feeling when I get to give him a big ole hug when we are first together is the best. I hope that one day he lives close enough for us to spend a ton of time together, but in the mean time, Dad, I love you!

And Damon, the man who never wanted kids, and if the truth be known, didn't even like kids, he has become the best dad to Austin that I could have ever asked for. He loves him when we are having fun and he loves him even more when he's not so easy to deal with. Austin absolutely adores him and that's all that I need to know!

I have very strong convictions about how I feel about how I feel about parents and I have always felt like no matter the distance or circumstance, nobody would ever replace my mom or my dad. I could never call anyone else dad and could never feel like anyone ever replaced my dad. Not to say that I don't love my step-parents, because I do, its just not a replacement to me, it's an addition. So, this Father's Day, I struggled to not force anything on Austin and let him decide what he wanted to do to celebrate Father's Day. He told me he wanted to get Damon a new tackle box (Is this kid obsessed with fishing or what?) and make Damon breakfast in bed. When it came down to it, he was able to go spend time with his dad (Ahem, for the 1st time in 4 weeks) and when he came back home, he quickly told Damon "Happy Father's Day" and it made my heart smile. I'm so glad that Austin sees and recognizes Damon as a father figure in his life. I don't think Fatherhood is an obligation, it's a privilege and I'm so thankful that Damon chose to treat it that way too!

We went to my mom's house to cook out with her and Charlie and to spend the afternoon swimming. When we got home and Austin was able to write in his cards I had gotten for him to give, we gave them to Damon... all 4 of them. They all said something special and different and I just couldn't decide so I got them all. Austin decided that he needed to help him open them since he had so many.

Happy Father's Day!