Strong Families and 13 great years!

It’s so nice to see the families being shown on the Olympics coverage.  Nastia Liukin and her father come to mind.  They are quite a team.  It’s neat to see him always there, always supporting and guiding his daughter.  A great advertisement for involved Dads.  Who hasn’t seen Michael Phelps’ Mother and sisters cheering in the Cube?  Misty May-Treanor’s Dad is always there too.   Sprinter Lauryn Williams Mother was also shown a few times in the stands at the Birdsnest. There are many others I am sure, and I look forward to seeing more coverage of them.  For me, strong and loving families are what it’s all about. 

My wife and I celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary today.  I am so lucky to have such a wonderful woman as a wife and mother to my children.  We dated for 3.5 years before getting married in 1995, so we have been together nearly half of our lives.  Amazing.

We actually went to the same high school, although we didn’t know each other well.  We knew who each other was, but didn’t date or even hang out.  When we were Juniors in college, we were standing in the same 2 hour line to register for classes.  That’s what started it all.  Thankfully that was before online class registration.  In the “old” days, you actually had to stand in line and sign up for the classes you wanted, and hope that they weren’t filled by the time you got to the front of the line.  Many times these lines were an hour long or more.

Of course when I saw her, I recognized her.  We both were nearing the end of other relationships, so the timing was perfect.  After talking and getting to know each other again, I asked for her phone number, and a week later saw her by chance at a popular night club for college students.  There, she gave me her business card and I stopped by her work a few days later to ask her out on a date to the Oregon Coast.  She actually broke a toe the day before our date, so I spent most of the time carrying her around in the sand.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

We are going to welcome our daughter into the world any day now.  I am so excited and happy to be having a daughter.  It really will change the dynamic around our house… having a little girl running around.  It will be fantastic.

My parents have been very happily married for over 43 years, and my wife’s for 42 years, so we had good examples of love and commitment.  That’s extremely important for children to see.  Adults doing what they say they are going to do, and all the while loving and honoring each other.  You don’t see much of that in the movies and on television shows these days, unfortunately.  That is having a very negative impact on our society, all in the name of cheap laughs and money.  Oh well, that’s another topic.

I want to extend my personal thanks to all of you involved, loving parents out there that have created strong families.  You are the hero’s of today.  Stand by your family and help make the world a better place.  Thanks for your support of Dadsworld.com!

Tags: anniversary, dad, dadsworld, family, lauryn williams, michael phelps, misty may, misty may-treanor, mom, nastia liukin, olympics, online, parenting