I once read that anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a daddy. How true those words ring. Particularly during this time of year when the thoughts of many revolve around picking out the perfect cards to honor the men who most influenced them throughout their lives: their daddy's.

            Being a daddy is an up-at-dawn, seven-day-a-week, tiresome, yet exhilarating lifetime commitment producing more joy, satisfaction, and rewards than anything that can be accomplished during our life.

            It’s sometimes thankless, yet always appreciated; sometimes scary, yet always a comfort; sometimes painful, yet always pleasing; sometimes difficult, yet always helpful; sometimes exhausting, yet always admired.

            Somehow, true daddy's are able to navigate the wide and seemingly endless chasm of fear and uncertainty to lead our future generations down the rocky paths of life. A difficult task, these men have the emotional fortitude to pass on their virtues, morals, strengths, and wisdom to their children who, although may not always express it, couldn’t fare near as well without that loving guidance.

            Daddy's not only share in the miraculous moment of conception, but are active participants throughout the gestation period and birth of the tiny miracle they helped create. The first moment a daddy gazes into the eyes of his newborn baby, he makes a secret oath deep within his soul, pledging that, no matter how steep the grade, how deep the valleys, how insurmountable the odds, he’ll continue to play a major role in the life of his child.

            Daughters learn how to relate to men, and how men relate to women from their daddy's. Sons learn how to be men and how to treat women from their daddy's. Then there are the daily, wonderful gifts daddy's give their children that are the stuff that memories are made of: standing on your daddy’s feet as he whirled you around the living room in time with some outdated slow song, setting the example of reverence, Dad was the tallest in the church pew on Sundays, with you sitting anxiously next to him, learning how to catch a football while your daddy took time off on a Tuesday afternoon to throw a ball with you in the backyard, the voice of your daddy cheering louder than anyone else in the bleachers your first time at the plate in little league, the safe feeling you always got when your daddy would tell you stories to soothe you during thunderstorms in the middle of the night, and the bittersweet look in your daddy’s eye as he walked you down that long aisle which led you into the arms of the man with whom you would spend the rest of your life.

            In honor of all the daddy's who’ve given so much of themselves to their children without expectation or motive, have a wonderful Father’s Day, and know that your love and care never go unnoticed. “A successful man isn’t always a good father, but a good father is always a successful man.”

        Be encouraged~ Angela