Dan and our girl about ten years ago…
It’s after midnight, which makes it Father’s Day, and one of my old foster kids just sent this message:
“can u tell Dan happy fathers day plz and think u i miss u all love u Keri.”
It’s been nine years now since she was ours. My heart aches for her life now. But it soars for the memory she holds…one of being loved a long time ago by a man she still thinks of as ‘dad’.
He is the dad…who didn’t have to be.
They are everywhere. They are the foster dads, neighbors, employers, friends, brothers, strangers. They are the adoptive dads. They are the guy down the street who fixes the bikes, or the coach, or the teacher, or the grandfatherly man who slides a nickle from behind his ear. They are the volunteers, the ‘above and beyonds’, the guy who gives more than he ever receives. They are the one in the shadows, behind the paycheck, across the world, who step up to the plate when nobody else will.
These men are the role models, setting an example for fatherless children everywhere, saying, ‘Hey…this is what a dad is supposed to do.” So when the children move on they will always have that image of a man, somewhere in the dark corners of their mind, who led by example. Who loved them. Who loves them still.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads … who didn’t have to be.
