To the Dads Who Show Up

Father's Day is this Sunday, June 21, and I've been thinking about what it actually means to be a good dad.

Not the Instagram version. Not the highlight reel. The regular version, the one that doesn't get photographed.

The dad who shows up to the school thing even when he's tired. Who remembers what his kid said three weeks ago and brings it back up, because he was actually listening. Who doesn't make a production out of being present. He just is.

My dad was like that. Not flashy. Just there. He had a chair on the back porch where he'd sit at the end of the day, and as kids we always knew where to find him. That chair wasn't special. The sitting was.

I think a lot about the men who do this right. The ones whose kids are going to grow up not wondering if their dad cares, because it was never a question.

That's the thing about good dads. The best ones make it look unremarkable. They don't need applause for showing up, so they often don't get it. The credit usually comes later, in ways they won't expect. A kid who grows up and realizes what they had. A family that feels like home because someone made it that way, quietly, over years.

So if you have a good one, a dad, a stepdad, a grandfather, or a man who stepped into that role without being asked, tell him this weekend. Not with a card you grabbed at the pharmacy. Actually tell him.

And if you are one of those dads: you're doing something that matters. Even on the days it doesn't feel like it.

Happy Father's Day.

Anna