The last twelve months have been rough. They were defined by lockdowns and job losses and masks and wildfires and protests. But what about someone with a one-year-old? To them, the last twelve months certainly had all those things, but it was mostly defined by the birth of their child, their first smile, their first…so many things. 

Some people are going to look back at 2020 with frustration and anger. But other people look back at it as the time when their daughter took her first steps. Or they’ll just look back on it as time they spent with their college-aged son that they never would have gotten had classes not been shut down, time their family spent together that they never thought they’d get. 

That’s the wonderful thing about being parents. Sure, it comes with worries and responsibilities, burdens and stresses. It also comes with a magical power that lets you find the good in everything. What was it like during WWII, Grandma? I don’t know, I was busy taking care of my little kids. It doesn’t matter if we just lost a chance to go to a conference championship, in the last game we may ever play, like Drew Brees, or if we just won that conference championship and a trip to the Super Bowl. like Tom Brady. What’s going to be on our minds is finding our kids after the game, hugging them, playing around with them, telling them we love them.

The highs…the lows…we always have this. It roots us. It defines us. It brings us back to an ordinary as well as an extraordinary present moment. You’ll always have your kids to focus on, to let you tune out what ought to be tuned out, to give you strength to persevere through what must be endured, to distract you from what it’s better not to think about. 

P.S. This was originally sent on April 7, 2021. Sign up today for the Daily Dad’s email and get our popular 11 page eBook, “20 Things Great Dads Do Everyday.”