Happy Father's Day

The first time I brought Matt to visit my bestest of friends and their young children in Calgary way back in 2003, I knew he was going to be my baby daddy. I even told this to my bff, and she completely agreed. This was a pretty big milestone for me, considering that up until I met Matthew, I had absolutely no plans on having kids.

But after being with Matthew, I quickly learned the importance of family. Father’s Day had always been a sore spot for me growing up, because it wasn’t until I reached my early 20’s did I have a solid father figure in my life. I remember being in Grade 3, and it was the Friday before Father’s Day, and we were to make a handmade card for our Dad. I was so stressed out. Do I make one card? Do I make 2 cards? 3 cards? At the time, there was no solid Father figure in my life. I didn’t know what to do. So, I told my teacher that I didn’t have a Dad. And I didn’t make any cards that year. I had completely forgotten about that until last night, in the middle of the night, I woke up and remembered that I had to write in the Father’s Day card that I bought for Matt. Isn’t it so strange how memories just come back to us like that, in the middle of the night, from out of nowhere?

I digress.

This day is special, because it is for celebrating the men in our lives: fathers, husbands, grandfathers. Any man who has shared in the adventure of parenthood. And what an adventure it is. Only after having a baby do I have the upmost respect for those parents out there who are doing it alone. The strength and courage it must take. I could not imagine doing this by myself. When Nikolas was first born, Matt took 3 weeks off work to be with us. We quickly figured out a schedule and routine that would maximize sleep time for me in between nursing (haha..what a joke...sleep??? Ya right!) and I would never have survived those first few weeks alone. The night before Matt was to go back to work, I had a complete melt down. How on earth was I going to handle this new born baby alone for 8 hours? I was terrified.

Nikolas doesn’t know it yet, but he really has the best Daddy in the world.