This is my last post of any sort for 2008 but my first post for Dadomatic. I wanted my last post of the year to be something that I am the most passionate about and that’s just being a dad. No matter what the economy is like, no matter the weather is and really no matter how anything is in the world I am, and always will be, dad to my three kids. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

In the big picture, much of what I do for a living is at best fleeting and at worst irrelevant. There is impact on lives due to providing services that improve businesses but that is fleeting as proven the last few months of economic disasters. Business and financial success comes and it goes. It’s often what our society values more than the things that have lasting impact for generations to come. It saddens me to think that the value placed on business and financial success often exceeds the value placed on things that are truly generational: people.

I don’t know how much time I am granted here on earth. I don’t want to know either. I do know though that I have been given an incredible opportunity and responsibility through the blessing of being a dad. I hope that we can all for a moment think about the upcoming year in terms of just being dad a little bit more.

Sure we only have so many hours in a day. Sure we have to ‘make hay while the sun is shining’. Sure we have to have a life of our own so we can stay strong (and sane). Of all those things though, I know in my life there is extra time spent doing things that don’t involve directly being dad and I want less of those and more of just being dad.

Dad means strength. Dad means love. Dad means influence. Dad means caring. Dad means modeling. Dad means paying attention. Dad means asking the hard questions. Dad means providing the hard answers. Dad means being a rock. Dad means being real. Dad means so much. Our kids deserve every ounce of our ‘daddy-ness’ this year. In fact, they deserve more than we think we can give.

There is no greater thrill, in my opinion, than being a father. I have a specific worldview, as we all do, that helps shape this for me. No matter what perspective you bring to the table make sure you bring dad to the table first. Let your kids have more of their dad this year than ever, then we can reconvene a year from now and celebrate real success.

Thanks to dads everywhere. You all rock.