Please, please, PLEASE get in touch with us and let us know if we're inspiring or annoying you, if you have questions or comments, or just to say hi! We may even stop in and see you at some point!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

THOUGHTS: On Fatherhood

Lately I've begun to realize that one of the traps I'm falling into as a relatively new father is that I feel compelled to put down so many plans for the sake of my son. I know a few people who have kids, some of them blindly putting their kids ahead of themselves, settling for a mundane life of a steady paycheck, benifits, regular vacations, and meetings with the home-owners association or the p.t.a.

For a small group of people, i'd imagine that this is the goal. This is the perfect life.  This is the ideal that they've worked so hard for. And that's okay. I respect one's right to follow their dreams.

However, for the majority, I wish they had the courage to do the things they love, not in spite of their children, but as an inspiration to them. The man who wants to be an actor and moves with his daughter to New York City into a small studio apartment. The woman who wants to travel the world and home-schools her son from a sailboat. The couple who build a commune and share their kids with the rest of the community. The farmer who buys a plot of land and gets his boys up at 4:30 in the morning to plow or feed the animals.  None of these fit the typical mold of what many of the masses would call "normal" or "healthy", yet it's very, very likely that all of these kids will grow up to fondly remember their childhood adventures, and the worldly experience and work ethic will benifit them far more than some of the more homogenized alternatives.

Just my take... from Alaska.


No comments: