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A Family Reminder for a Father
It had been a wonderful three days of vacation with
my family. We had biked, hiked, and relaxed at the
edge of the Superior National Forest in northern
Minnesota. And although it isn't always easy to be
with your family for twenty four hours a day
(especially for an introvert!), it was filled with
memorable moments.
Dusk was rapidly approaching on our last night
at the lodge. On this warm and windy evening, my
wife and kids were out watching the surf, and I was
in the lodge. As I tried to figure out my next
move, I noticed the Minnesota Twins baseball game
on the TV. I sat down and began to watch, feeling
my interest in the "real world" drift away. As the
inning finished, I felt a strong urge to join my
family. I got up and headed straight out to the
water, and found them huddled on a large rock.
We huddled closer when I arrived, and my kids
told me about what I'd been missing. We sat there
until darkness arrived, watching the incredible
show of waves crashing against the rocks. Nobody
was rushed, there were no emails to send, no phones
to answer, and no games to speed off to. We were
just there with each other enjoying the moment, and
enjoying this amazing display from Mother Nature.
It was so very simple, and it was all we really
needed.
As I sat there with my daughter in my lap, I
gave thanks for the many blessings in my life.
Among those blessings was being reminded of how
simple and powerful these moments are, and how
important it is to keep them alive. To live an
intentional family life today is a radical act. In
a country in which family meals together have
declined 33% over the past 3 decades, and children
have doubled their time spent in sporting
activities, these kinds of moments cannot be
missed. Moments like these remind us that we are
put on this earth to give and receive love. And
when we make time to do this, much of it will rub
off on our children.
As we slowly made our way back to the lodge, I
had a momentary urge to check in with the Twins
game. My son jumped on my back and yelled, "Let me
ride you up to the room, Dad!"
I noticed in the next morning's paper that the
Twins had won the game. And while I was happy they
won, I knew something more important had happened
for me the night before. I had been reminded of the
importance of choosing to connect with my
family.
No more important choice exists for any of
us.
© 2007 Mark
Brandenburg
Other Father Issues,
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* * *
To this day I can remember my father's
voice, singing over me in the stillness of the
night. - Carl G. Jung
Mark has
a Masters degree in counseling psychology and has
been a counselor, business consultant, sports
counselor, and a certified life and business coach.
He has worked with individuals, teams, and
businesses to improve their performance for over 20
years. Prior to life and business coaching Mark was
a world-ranked professional tennis player and has
coached other world-ranked athletes. He has helped
hundreds of individuals to implement his coaching
techniques. Mark specializes in coaching men to
balance their lives and to improve the important
relationships in their lives. He is the author of
the popular e-books, 25
Secrets of Emotionally Intelligent
Fathers
 ,
and Fix
Your Wife in 30 Days or Less (And Improve Yourself
at the Same Time
).
Mark is also the publisher of the “Dads
Don’t Fix your Kids” ezine for fathers.
To sign up, go to www.markbrandenburg.com
or E-Mail
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