Be gentle with yourself and others today. Today, Fathers Day 2015, like every other good and beautiful holiday comes with its residual sense of pain too for almost everyone you see.
None of us travel through life without getting hurt and on days like today bumps and bruises, even those long healed, can somehow rise to the surface and make the memory of their presence known profoundly. For others still struggling to heal or just beginning to heal, the pain today brings is far more fresh.
So be gentle with yourself and others today because you may be interacting with:
- A stepfather who has never had the honor of spending Father's Day with his stepchildren and can't help missing them as he receives his gifts from his own children.
- A daughter whose father chose to take his own life and never walked her down the aisle at her wedding. Even though it hurts a little less each year, it also hurts a little more as she sees how many memories she now has without her dad.
- A child of divorce torn between the love he holds for both his blended families and the frustration of feeling that he can never share that love wth all of them at once.
- A mom whose husband has left her for somone else and doesn't care to share Father's Day with their children anymore.
- A new father struggling to understand what fatherhood means since he never knew his own.
- A widow who looks at her family and wishes she could hold their Daddy's hand one last time.
The list could go on and I'm sure we can all add our own bump, bruise, or even deep wound that gets opened today. So be gentle with yourself and others - a few extra hugs may go a very long way today.
