Shaping The Acorns

One of the facets of fatherhood that I was keenly aware of from the very beginning was how my actions/words/deeds would help shape a legacy with my offspring. Early on with Zachary and Liam, it was hard to gauge how much success I have on that front.

I'm certainly not perfect by any stretch, and there are certainly times where I wish I could erase something I did just as easily as hitting delete on the DVR. But lately, I've experienced some of those "moments" that make everything I do/say/believe worth it:

- Liam has started giving me the biggest hugs when I drop him off at his school each morning, when before he cried, or just wanted to head off and start playing with stuff.

- For his author's party at school, Zachary wrote a terrific story about a boy who entered an upside down world. At the end of the story, each child helped write a little bio about themselves. Besides the usual favorites (color, TV show, food), each child was asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. Zachary's response? "I want to be a daddy."

- Liam is quite insistent that I hold on tight to his hand when we walk back from taking Zachary to the bus stop. He doesn't want me to get hit by cars.

- Last night, some pretty wicked weather was bearing down on the Atlanta area. When we were explaining this to the kids, Zachary immediately wanted to have us conduct a tornado drill just in case we needed to head for shelter during the night.

Love. Role Model. Protector.

So far, so good! Gotta keep telling myself it's a marathon, not a sprint.