Letter From A Dad: A Pando Original

Hi, I'm a dad, and this Father's Day, I want to tell you a little bit about how much I love my kids. They're cut right out of the same cloth as I am, man. They're my best friends. I'd do anything for them. I love spending time with them. They're my whole world, so even though they're half-grown, whenever they give me a little time out of their day, it makes me so happy. I feel so important to them. Whenever they give me a call, sometimes they need something, but the best is when they just want to say hi. I'm never too busy for that. I love making things for them that I think they'd like. I'm sort of a handy guy, so I like building, designing, painting, sculpting, and I'm pretty good at keeping up with what each of my kids is into, so when they share an interest with me, I love to just spoil them and shower them with all kinds of gifts and treats and stuff because they know it's their good old dad who gave it to them. And when they mess up, it's like it doesn't even matter what they did in the long run because all I end up caring about is that they always come to me with their problems and concerns, you know, saying, Dad, I love you, please fix it. That's all that matters. I love my kids, man. When they were growing up, I loved that look of amazement in their eyes. Every time they were surprised that they got another dinner, another new outfit, a ride to school, like, yeah, I'm so thrilled to just be the one to provide all that for them. Where does it come from? I don't, they don't know. They just know that their dad cares about them. But oh man, the worst part is seeing your kids get hurt. You tell them to do or not do something, but they got to test the waters out, man.

They got to see what they can do on their own. It's not great to watch them limp back to you, crying that they hurt themselves. Sometimes they even blame you, you know, why'd you let me do that, Dad? But as a father, you know, they needed to learn that lesson, right? So you're doing them a big honor in the bigger picture of their life because then they know that when their dad gives them advice, he probably knows what he's talking about. I love my kids. I don't think anything could ever make me love them anymore or less, you know? And if you're blessed enough to have a person, or two, or three that come from your heart and your genes, you maybe have a little glimpse of what I'm talking about. I thought that was a good thing to create, parenthood, to let you see a tiny bit of what I see. Not everybody has kids, of course, but everybody has parents, and it could be a tricky thing to understand the love of a parent. But just know, if your dad on earth didn't come through for you, or maybe he did, but he's not around anymore, remember, I'm always here, and I'm for you. I can't wait for you to be here with me one day. But in the meantime, I'm there with you, with all my love, God. God bless. God bless.