Rays Of Fathering Love

On this day, while many are paying tribute to the men whom gave birth to them and their children, and/or help to raise them, I join you and pay tribute to all fathers, perhaps taking a bit of an "untraditional" approach to my tribute.

On this Father's Day, I find myself pondering, "what is a father?"  Webster provides a description of father as "one who fathers a child;"  this would be my personal definition of a "birth father."  However in today's broken society, it is my belief that there are several types of fathers.  So I looked to the active form of the word 'father' and found Webster providing the following definition: "to care for or look after someone as a [birth] father might." 

This leads me to think, aren't there many types of people, and things, "fathering" today?  We have mothers whom are "fathering" their children (as well as "mothering" them).  We have grandparents, aunts, uncles, distant relatives, neighbors, and even former strangers doing likewise today, through formal and not-so-formal adoptions of children, animals, mammals, our environment, and so on.

If I look at the current tragedy in the Gulf of the US, I see many coming forward to father the environment and wildlife, assisting to save lives and attempting to preserve as much of the environment as possible ~~ much as its "birth Father" would do.  Likewise, if I think of the thousands of military personnel serving various countries, being stationed away from home and their families for long periods of time, I can only imagine those whom are stepping in to assist in fathering these families.  There are so many similar circumstances where fathering is taking place in a not-so-traditional setting today.  I reach out here to say "thank you" to each one stepping forward to father a child, or being, in any way today.

In my own home, my DH and myself "father" many, but not a child.  With great love, and tender care, we father our two labrador retrievers, each other, our home, our "toys" ( mine being art supplies, and his being sporting goods, :)), and so much more.

So today, I pay tribute to all whom look after someone (or something) with tender love and care, just as the one whom conceived would have, if they had been provided such capacity.  In this view, I send a warm "Happy Fathers Day" to each of you ~~ women and men!  May we all appreciate and love our "fathers" today and always!

Also, I send special hugs to all whom have lost those whom "fathered" them, and hope they can also see that their are many "fathers" surrounding them today and always, <3.  Happy Fathers Day, . . . and Happy Creating!