Father's Day

This is my first official father's day, and it's given me a moment to think about the previous twenty-seven to which I gave hommage to my dad. I'm still going to give him a call and talk to him, it is his day after all, buy now I have something to celebrate with him. I'm not the most experienced parent at this point, as my wife would be quick to second, but in the past four months my daughter and I have worked at establishing a bond. It's comforting to know that the emotional bond we have is reinforced by the sealing bond that my wife and I have to each other, our daughter, and any other children that will be born to us in the future.

The great irony to this is the thought that our screaming, squalling, and messy daughter will be with us for eternity. But with that we also have our cute, adorable, and peaceful daughter. Gotta take the good with the bad, and I suppose in the long run, it's all good.

It's odd that you develop a greater appreciation for your parents once you become a parent yourself, but that is probably one of the greatest things of God's plan for his children. Great joy is born from great sorrow, as is portrayed in the scriptures countless times, and is a contributing factor as to why a baby's cry is one of the most irritating and heartbreaking things to the human ear. Although Erini has not started talking yet, I'm sure my heart will melt the first time I hear her say, "Daddy" or "Dada" or whatever babbling I'll convince myself is speech that seems to resemble one of the many titles for a father. Just so long as she doesn't refer to me as a personal ATM, I'll be fine.

Or I might be like my father-in-law, who when his daughter got married, dressed up in a King Henry costume and recited the poem, "A Father's Lament," which he wrote himself, hence I couldn't find it on the net. I'll see if I can convince him to dig it up, but in summary, he goes to great length describing what he went through raising his beloved daughter, and how he never complained, until August 2, 2003, when his little girl got married.