The older I get, the more I understand how difficult it must have been for my folks, especially my Dad, to convey what he was living through to the only people he really cared about being understood by: his children.

Whether this day finds you missing the father you had, mourning the father you didn’t have, or celebrating the father you do or did have, I hope it’s filled with grace.

And I hope that grace makes it easier to extend the benefit of the doubt to those who are trying, however imperfectly, to tell you who they are in the hopes of making a safe home base for you. We’ll need some of that grace for ourselves as well. :)

Every time you make a safe home base for someone else, you’re being an excellent father.