From the Publisher

Sunday was Father’s Day and I hope all you dads had a good one. I know I did. 

Actually, I had a good week leading up to Father’s Day. 

We got the Collinsville Pirate State Champion special edition baseball issue out to press that Monday. Jennifer and our daughters were on a girls’ trip to Galveston. We left the office in the capable hands of our staff here, and my son and I hit the road.  

We ventured to northwest Arkansas where my little brother lives. We spent a few days doing guy stuff with him. We took a canoe trip down the Kings River. We rode mountain bikes on the Razorback Greenway in Bentonville. We ate artisan pizza and street tacos. We had a wonderful time and came back Friday refreshed.  

We had our folks over on Sunday and got in the pool. The kids gave me a funny card and t-shirt. And Isabella made me her signature carrot cake for Father’s Day. It was a great day.   

I’ve been a father now for almost 17 years, and I realize how much more I know about doing things now than I did when I started. 

There are so many things I have learned by being a father that I never could have imagined ever needing to know. I’ve learned how to be a pretty decent pool technician. I never thought I would know anything about pH balance and chlorine levels and alkalinity and how to troubleshoot a faulty pool pump. I’m a dad and I know these things now.  

I never knew I would be an expert caretaker of turtles. Well, I don’t know if “expert” is the correct description, but I’ve learned a lot about turtles, nonetheless. First, it was red-eared sliders and now it’s African tortoises. When your daughter wants turtles, you get turtles. And sometimes you end up taking care of turtles. 

I never knew I would learn so much about the game of softball or that I would enjoy it as much as I do. I never knew that I would know about dress sizes and taking little girls shopping for pretty clothes. I never knew a lot of things before I became a dad.

And I’ve learned a lot about things more profound than softball and turtle care. I never knew how to truly pray until I found myself praying for the health of a sick child. I never knew how deeply I could love my wife until I saw her reflection in our daughters’ eyes. I never knew how hard my own father worked to provide for us growing up. And I never knew how much I would love the job of being a dad.

Psychiatrist and author Frank Pittman once said, “The guys who fear becoming fathers don’t understand that fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man. The end product of child raising is not the child, but the parent.”

There is a lot of truth to this. Raising good kids has a way of bringing a man full circle in his own upbringing. 

I feel as if I am well underway in this process and, for that, I am grateful. 

Thank you Jackson, Isabella, Mackenzie and Grace for making me the man I am today and encouraging me to be a better man tomorrow.