So I’m finally back here for another blog.  Things have been pretty busy lately, but not overwhelmingly so.  So yesterday I found myself flying back to Texas for the weekend to spend a little time with the family.  Last week, while talking to my son’s mom about my trip she mentioned how he has been telling her how he wants to grow up to be big and tall like his dad.  This immediately brought a huge grin to my face, just for the fact that there’s something in me that my 4 year old son can identify as something he would like to grow into.

I remember growing up and always looking up at my dad as he seemed like he was the tallest person in the world.  He was 6′6″ and seemed to tower over everyone around.  For some reason it never really registered with me that one day I would grow to be this tall, although I was always the biggest one amongst my friends.  Finally I looked up and I had grown to be 6′7″ and finally had lived up to my potential.

Although I live more than 1000 miles from my son, I try to come back and visit him as much as possible.  As things have slowed down a bit at work, I have loosely committed to coming back here once a month and spending a weekend with him.  At the same time I try to make a point to spend time talking to him on weekends, although this doesn’t always work out too well given how he is completely distracted most times I call.

I think the bigger message in this blog is although I’m not around him 24/7 like I would like to be, I still have a very active part in his life.  I never knew how tough being a dad could be until he was born.  Although I can’t say that my life was drastically altered, I definitely had to look at alot of things differently.  Paying child support is not my favorite thing to do every month, but knowing that he doesn’t have to want for anything definitely helps me sleep at night.  Although I’ll never be the perfect parent, every day I try to do what I can to make a difference in his life.  I’m sure he doesn’t even understand some of the sacrifices that I make for him right now, but I know one day it will make for an interesting discussion.

The main reason I really enjoy being a dad is simply knowing that at least one person in this world is striving to be like me.  This knowledge helps me make alot of day to day decisions, and definitely keeps me out of some of the trouble of my younger years.

Although being a dad definitely isn’t easy, I can say it’s a ton of fun.  It doesn’t require a bunch of money, although that helps.  I think the main key is your level of commitment to your child.  They are just looking for someone who is genuinely concerned with them and getting to know them.