Something to think about…

Father’s Day got me to thinking. Thinking about my dad. Thinking about being a dad.

My dad passed away in July 2020. I miss him every day. Certain restrictions kept us from being able to hold a celebration of his life. I often think about how many people would have turned out to pay their respect for him. We may have had to hold the ceremony at the Family Arena. I am confident there wouldn’t have been a church big enough to hold the people who would have come out to share the impact my dad had on their life.

Again, that gets me to thinking…

What impact am I making. As a father. A son. A brother. A boyfriend. A friend. Coworker. Ex-husband. So many roles. So many chances to make an impact. What do others see when they look at me? Not that I care, because I truly don’t. The only judgement that matters will come after I leave this earth. But it does make you think.

One of my favorite quotes comes from legendary college basketball coach John Wooden. “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching”. This is spot on but let me take that a step further…

The true test of being a father is what he does when his children are watching.

Both of my kids have taken on a lot of my mannerisms. A fact I am sure their mothers roll their eyes at often. 

I know I have made a million mistakes in my life. Too many to actually try to count. My kids have seen a lot of them. Hopefully they are taking the good with the bad and filing away some of the things they see me do to think about using later that day, that week, that month or whenever.

There goes that thinking thing again…

Relationships are like that as well – personally and professionally. Throughout my career I have had a handful of really good bosses. I have also had a boatload of not so good bosses (if any of my former bosses are reading this, I will let you determine which category fits you). Like my kids with me, over the years I have tried to cultivate what being a good leader/employee/employer looks like. Taking good qualities I see and filing them away in a place where I can readily find and use them in later situations. I have also seen a lot of bad traits/qualities and have stored them a little deeper in the memory bank, but not too deep so I forget and turn into a bad boss/employee/friend/etc.

I could go on an on about what goes on in my noggin’. Hopefully this little blog post has got you thinking. I know it has given me plenty to think about – dang it!

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.