To the Single Fathers on Father’s Day

We may no longer be husbands, but we will be fathers forever

Photo by Jimmy Dean on Unsplash

It is my third Father’s Day waking up alone. Downstairs, I can already hear my kids screaming at each other over trivial things, and I know that these are my burdens to bear today.

There is no mother here to float downstairs on angel’s wings and lure them into helping bring me coffee in bed.

Instead it will be me, and I will do it with a smile, because when it’s just us — just the kids and I, and there’s no one else watching — those often happen to be the sweetest times.

Then I’ll make my own coffee.

But I’m not complaining.

I love being a father, and actually, I love being a single father.

I love that I can parent on my terms. That I can teach my kids about camping and archery and how to drive the truck when they’re five years old. I love that we can be crazy and no one gets to calm us down. I love that we can live a life of our own creation, and that I can teach them about the love a man is capable of first-hand, without the complications of romance between their mother and I.

That’s not to say there aren’t other lessons to be taught, but right now, these are the ones I’m grateful to…