TheAmerican1
10 hours ago
When my son was little, at bedtime, I would scoop him up, throw him on my shoulders, run up the steps, and toss him into bed. We did this for years.

And then one day we stopped. I don't remember the specific date. I suppose it was a matter of him getting too big.

But that's a bittersweet part of parenting. The special things you do with your kids? One day, you won't. There won't be any fanfare. It'll just stop. And all you'll have are memories.

My son's an adult now, and he lives far from us. We see him a couple times a year. Would we like to see him more? Of course. But he's happy and doing well and, most importantly, living a proper life and contributing positively to society.

Not a day passes when one of us doesn't use one of his toddler words -- the unique phrasing or terms that kids delightfully create -- and, thank goodness, we live in an age when he's only a FaceTime call away. So, in a way, he's still with us.

There was an old Army commercial with this tagline: "It's the toughest job you'll ever love." I think that applies to parenting, too. No, it's not easy. It's not supposed to be. Nothing worthwhile ever is.

So, yes, if you are a parent of young ones, I know precisely what you're going through. But as they say, "The days are long, but the years fly by." Yeah, that's spot-on. If you're a parent, you know how difficult it can be. But before you know it, there's your kid turning into a young adult, walking across the stage, diploma in hand, going to college, becoming an adult...

Being a good father is the most important thing I'll ever do.