A Fathers Day FANSHARE!

FANSHARE: (get your tissues)

“When I found out I was going to be a dad for the first time and having a daughter, I will admit I worried. A lot.

How would I connect with her? What would we share? What would we have in common? My while life was dedicated to dude stuff.

I brushed up on princesses and learned how to fix her hair. I prayed that God would teach me how to father a little girl, to be everything she needed me to be, to learn the gentle ways that would help me enjoy tea parties. I painted her room pink and fell in love the day she was born, silently still worrying for years about how her and I would connect and be close.

17 years later, I look back and realize all my worries were for nothing.

We are closer than ever. While we’ve had the tea parties and the princess clothes, makeup and all the other things I was unfamiliar with- we also had softball. And maybe it sounds trite, or simple or silly- but my life with my daughter has been intricately laced together just as tightly as the red seams on the ball are. The things we have talked about while just throwing a ball around in the yard, or during long car rides…have truly shaped our relationship – and my life!

The laughs, cries, hugs, good days, bad days, competitions and afternoons spent kicking up dirt have been such an integral part of our relationship- have bonded us together so deeply that words cannot describe my gratitude for this sport and for my blessing of being gifted with a baby girl so many years ago. Among the dirt and sweat and hardwork and sometimes stress, a relationship has been grown that surpasses anything I could have ever imagined.

And for that….and for softball….I am so grateful!”