Daddy Kisses

Warning! This blog contains soppy, emotional blathering idiot type stuff. If you visit this blog for strictly thugonomics, please check back another day.

But at #thugdaddynation - we actually understand that while being a daddy is cool, and being cool is also pretty cool, part of the beauty of our nation is that we aren't afraid to let a little emotion out of the bag at this 'later' stage of our 40+ year old lives.

Enough disclaimer work...

Today my son Tommy... completely unsolicited... grabbed both my cheeks while I was in mid-sentence talking to Jenn... and planted his first ever Daddy kiss on me. Oh sure I have had cheek kisses, and some small 'reciprocal kisses' when I've given him kisses - but like many young boys - T isn't shy about letting Daddy know that his kisses are reserved mostly for his mommy.

And I thought I was pretty cool with that.

But today, when that bright smiling face started to laugh and laugh after giving his daddy what he seemed to know was an absolute thrill of a lifetime, something inside of me broke. And not something bad either.

I'm not ahsamed to admit that as soon as he kissed me, I cried. And I cried. And I cried. Joyously. Rapturously. It was not just the beauty of the moment that overcame me, it was a realization...

Being a parent is damn tough. Being a good parent is probably the toughest job in the world. Sometimes it's hard to understand why on earth it's so hard - and why on earth it seems so endless.

And then your child graces you with a moment that will resonate with you for the rest of your life, like very few things ever before in all your lifetime of experiences.

And suddenly you realize... that it's ALL so worth it. You know why you don't sleep at night to look after your child - why you work every moment that you have just to give them what they need - why you sacrifice almost everything of yourself, to build a life for them.

Because it's worth it - it's so worth it.

I want you all to know that if you haven't had one of these moments yet - just be patient - it will come. And when it does, clouds will clear, and blue skies will appear... with sunshine... rays and rays of glorious sunshine, because you will know...

You have purpose, you have value, you have worth. You are EVERYTHING to somebody.

And they know it.

And now so do you.

My life changed for the better today, and forever.

What could possibly be more special than that?