The Hero's Welcome

Some of my friends and I were hanging out the other night when suddenly the conversation turned in a completely unexpected direction. We started to talk about being a father and of course our kids. Now to set the stage I can tell you that I have 2 teen aged daughters while one friend has 2 year old twins and the other is a father-to-be. So as you can see we are all in different stages of parenthood so we all have very different points of view about the subject. It was interesting to hear the "war stories" of late nights, sleep deprivation, temper tantrums and the such and how each of us had dealt with it (at this point my one friend who was the father-to-be looked somewhat paranoid and I could tell he was having second thoughts about this whole thing). But at some point in order to kind of reign in the conversation I remember saying "Yeah, it's a tough job being a parent and it takes a lot of patience, understanding and willpower to make it in the beginning.....but the one thing that I still look forward to everyday is coming home from the office, walking in the door and hearing "Hi daddy" from my kids." My one friend commented "the hero's welcome". I started to think about that phrase and it started to really resonate with me. It's not something new this concept of welcoming home the conquering hero who is returning from war, mankind has been holding these types of rituals for thousands of years. I would imagine that every culture has their own way of welcoming home those brave souls that put it all on the line for the sake of the tribe, empire, nation what have you. I have also been involved with these types of celebrations before after I returned home from Desert Storm and the first Gulf War. But I realize that there are only so many of these "hero's welcomes" that I will have left and a part of me is saddened by that. The fact that your children look past all of your "stuff" and just welcome you home with loving arms is a powerful thing and something that I don't think we as parents appreciate enough...until it's gone. My daughter's are growing older and maturing each and every day and I know that it is only a matter of time before I will no longer be their hero and there will be another man in their lives who takes that place. I realized once my friend said that that I was running out of time and for a brief moment I envied my other 2 friends because of the hundreds of hero's welcomes that they had left and the few that lie ahead for me. Enjoy them now boys because they are only here for so long... enjoy them each and every day and make the most of the time you have because it will (and I know everyone says this but it's absolutely true) go faster than you realize. And before you know it........it's over and the hero is nothing more than a memory, a fable...forgotten. Until the GRANDCHILDREN arrive!!!!