Happy Father's Day

MEN, Let me tell you how important you are in life: You are the first love your little girl will have. You are the good example for which she will develop her standards. You will also be the bad example that can hold her back, make her settle, and get her hurt. You are the reason your sons will want to succeed. You are also the excuse they will have when they fail, if they watch you give up. You are the other half that your partner needs to be her best- not because she isn't strong enough to do it on her own- because she shouldn't have to. You are the inspiration for love and the pillar of what can make or break a family- not because a family dissolves when you are not there- but because it is your presence that exemplifies strength and commitment, which builds a foundation for the future. What you do in your home and out of it impacts your partner and touches the entire world. How we are treated, cherished, fought for, or left, creates a ripple effect. My parents have been married for 47 years. There isn't a man alive that I respect more than my father for the priorities and responsibilities he took on to take care of his family. That being said, there are things that my dad and I don't see eye-to-eye on, but all that means is he is important. It's important to make him proud. It is important for me to pay attention to what I like and don't like, so that I may learn for my own relationships and future. It is most important that I see the bigger picture of what it means to be a MAN: A man is not perfection. A man is someone who is a living example that inspires integrity, growth, love, and hope. He instills it in his roots and he commits to it until the end. When he leaves this world his mark is made, and he lives forever because what he passes on continues forth. Legacy, fellas... What will yours be?