Celebrate Dads 2021

Celebrate Dads 2021

Celebrate Dads of all Varieties – 2021

May 7, 2021 

5 minute read

This is the third year we’ve celebrated father’s day without one of my dads. I am honored and supported by the love of three other dads in my life – my husband from my youth, my dad from my birth, and my papa from the Hedrick side – I still desperately miss my the dad from the Overton House on the River. Sometimes I even wallow in it. 

I wish so badly and sometimes curse very loudly that it hadn’t happened to us, but it has, and so, what am I/should we do about it. My dad used to always tell me, you have two choices, Kristi. And he was right, as always, he was right – 

  • get older or don’t
  • be kind or be a butt 
  • heal that or don’t
  • go through it or get stuck
  • make meaning or feel mundane
  • practice self care or don’t…

Those are my additions at the end there. 

This year, I am trying to find more balance. Yes, I miss my dad and feel his absence acutely, and I have other dads that deserve my love and care. So this difficult day, I celebrate the dads in my life with 15 minutes of relentless self care practice where I capture stories about each of them, especially the one that is no longer able to himself, so that they may be passed along to my girls and hopefully their girls thereafter. This is how these dads I love, these husbands, these humans will live on, in our stories of their lives. 

 

Celebrate Dads of All Varieties

So I guess what I am saying is this year, I feel better able to celebrate – 

My husband who tolerates a lot from me and still chooses me anyway, 

My dad who loves me deeply and still accepts me for who I am anyway, and 

My papa who tries valiantly to meet me where I am and embraces me  anyway.

I also want to celebrate my dad who I’ve missed unbearably for the past three years by considering what I wish I could have asked him, challenging myself to take the time to sit down and write it out, creating a piece that will live on as long as it is shared, and celebrating the stories and memories you have of the father-type in your life.

Find your Practice Printable at the ExOr Etsy store.

 

Now please, let me say that I understand that relationships with fathers, or lack thereof can be complicated and complex. That is valid and enough too, and still deserves to be noted and acknowledged with all that are able. If contemplating this practice stirs up any discomfort or difficulty, please take good care of yourself. I believe that connection and being heard is a deep human need, and there are certainly humans available if you reach out – to a professional, to someone dear, to me. Just please know, it may feel like it, but you are not alone. A decent place to start is here at the Mental Health Matters Resource Library, I am not a mental health professional, but I do believe in them and wish them for everyone because mine has surely helped. 

I’d be delighted if you could share how you celebrate the day of dad’s – 

Leave me a comment below, or post a pic of yourself practicing 15 minutes of relentless self care on this father’s day @extheornow