“any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad” – Unknown

i’m still trying to live up to that quote …

it’s been 26 years of father’s days and not once, until the day actually came for me, did i ever realize how great it really was. this is probably due in part to the fact that you never truly appreciate your parents until you become one. don’t get me wrong, i love my mom and dad, but i never really got it. it’s as if i went through that teenager stage of thinking i knew everything when i really, and quite simply, knew nothing.

being a dad is hard. it’s not without its rewards, that’s for sure, but it’s hard work. lately, though, and particularly on this past sunday, it all came into focus for me. i now live for my wife and little girl. everyday when i wake up, i go to work for them and return to them (my favorite part). never has sitting in traffic been so pleasurable than since i became a dad. getting home is now priority number one because by the time i arrive our little lady is tuckered out and on the road to sleepy time. it’s the time that i now value. the time with her and with bryn. we won’t see these times again. she’ll only be five months old once and i want to make sure i’m here.

it’s that mentality that i carried into sunday, father’s day. we planned a family day and a family day is what we had. unfortunately we don’t have a picture from the daytime of all three of us, but there are plenty of each of us with ellie. :)

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oh yeah, and one hell of a father’s day gift from mommy (and baby) that if i forgot to mention she’d kill me. it’s probably going up somewhere on the homestead rather than work. something so nice belongs here.

the day started simple enough. first we hit el rancho for breakfast, which we devoured, of course, and then we headed to tilden park. after sitting through some traffic due to a car fire, we made our way to the park and the steam train. from all accounts, ellie really enjoyed the train. she didn’t freak out, she just sat there with her fist in her mouth for most of the 12-minute ride and took in the scenery from a nice spot on my lap.

after the train, we headed over to the merry-go-round which was a lot of fun for mommy and me, but i’m not certain ellie was that into it. i think it just confused her and maybe made her dizzy. after the merry-go-round i insisted on picking up some pink popcorn even though bryn hates the smell of it because when my mom and i used to go to the park when i was a kid, she’d let me get it every time. ellie seemed to enjoy watching me eating it, as well. mmmm, pink popcorn!

however brief my description of our day is, it was a good, long day filled with some good family time. despite that, we wanted a little more when we got home, so we did some tummy time, complete with drooling, to end the day.

and what a day it was. my first father’s day. one i won’t soon forget.