We will return perhaps as soon as tomorrow evening to our topic from yesterday.  It was my intent to do some follow up on my comments in this post.  But we are going to take a different approach to the comments here.  Life has a way of throwing you a curve when you aren't looking.  I hope you will forgive me for my mood tonight.  Emotions can mix in volatile ways at various points of this journey.  Mine are very much a blend of being both happy and sad in the same moment.  Odds are good this will be a common trait moving through the next few weeks and months.  Being a dad means paying that price along the way.

You probably know by now that my favorite daughter graduates in less than two months.  I wouldn't say that denial is in play but one does learn how to avoid thinking much about that.  One of our projects is to gather photos of her for a slide show.  These photographs are to reflect her journey since her birth back in 1992.  Tonight was the night for me to start sifting through boxes of pictures to select some for this display.  Now you can understand my unique mood now.  I saw photos from her very first day of life.  There are some of her early years when she was home all of the time.  I actually remember most if not all of these photos as if they were yesterday.  It was just yesterday in my mind that our story began.  Seeing both of us when younger plays all kinds of tricks with the human heart.  I do not doubt that my memories of the pictures are far different than hers.  Sure feels like we packed a lot of living into these eighteen years.

I was already in my thirties when she was born.  This is just a little bit older than usual for most folks to have their first child.  Perhaps it allowed me a perspective that younger parents do not possess.  Every moment was and is still overflowing with value to me.  We went from picking up her friends to come over to current friends just coming inside after driving to the house.  Instead of looking for cute clothes we now shop for prom dresses.  Summer camps are about to give way to moving to college.  This is how life operates.  One good thing is that we live in this technological age.  Communication will not be the same chore it was many years ago during my college days.  But this does not mean that I want her to go.  All of those pictures remind me of how lucky I am to have her as a daughter.  She will always be my favorite daughter.

We are the product of our experiences in many ways.  Who we are is often the outcome of what we go through in the journey.  Some people come through life with a destructive quality.  Some people enter your world to become blessings amid your burdens.  You probably have photographs of both of these types.  You will have their presence etched somewhere in your heart.  Be careful not to allow the negative events to outweigh God's gifts to you.  Human beings do tend to recall the bad faster than we do the good.  Being a dad became my life's purpose over eighteen years ago.  This is among my best things even when life took difficult turns.  Would I want to be remembered for any accomplishments in my work?  I would rather be known as a dad who tried to be the best one possible.  This is who I am.  I am a dad.

Bro. Trey