What a Dad Wants

you know, Mother's Day, Father's Day. First of all, you know, being married to someone who Lauren, whose dad passed away when she was younger, I have a whole new respect for these days and these weeks, of those who celebrate and those who get to enjoy it, and then those who don't, and then those who it can be a rough week for For me. My dad is alive and well, thank God, I've been blessed with having an amazing father. He lives down in South Texas and we still have

an amazing relationship with my brother. I have an older brother, by the way, And so you know, Father's Day is always an interesting week because I feel like Mother's Day and Father's Day are so different the way we look at them. And maybe that's just my world. I don't know, but Mother's Day, we really and this is out of all due respect and love, we should we really stop. And it's really kind of this this massive thing where we really want to dive in and make moms feel great.

And there's there's you know, the brunches and the things, and it's it's Mother's Day. And then there's kind of like, oh, yeah, Father's Day. It's in June, and it's kind of like, oh crap, what do we do? So I'm here to help you with the oh crap, what do we do with Father's Day? Because it is kind of that weird day where it's like, well, is dad just going to go out and do yard work again? Is it just you know, you end up barbecuing. This is the best story.

When I was when my kids were young, My daughter Taylor, who's now twenty, she was in ballet class and in a ballet studio, a dance studio, whatever their dance recital was on Father's Day. It was Sunday of Father's Day that all these dads had to go sit in an auditorium and watch three hours of what we will loosely call ballet. And I asked the teacher, the instructor one time I said, why do you do this on Father's Day?

And she's said, well, I thought this would be such a treat for the dads, and I said, yeah, there's nothing more than dads want to do. Then get up early on Father's Day and go sit and watch your daughter dance and again I use that term loosely, for like four minutes, and then watch a thousand other kids pick their nose on stage. That is our dream. That's exactly what we want to do. Talk about the things

you would never do on Mother's Day. That's it because they know that's not it, and so hold the dance recital on another day. That's not where dads want to go sit in a cold auditorium and pretend that you know, they're watching their neighbor's daughter dance. But we've evolved from that. We've gotten older, and here's what it comes down to. Number One, time if I can get time with my kids, If I get a chance to see my kids. The older they get, the trickier that gets because they start

living in different places. Luckily, my son has graduated, he lives closer to me now that my daughter up and fort wereth So it gets harder and harder to spend time together. But number one time If I get to see the kids this week, and it doesn't even have to be on Sunday, just at any point in time. If we can be together and I can get a big hug and sit down and have a meal in a conversation, that's gold. That is amazing. The older I get, I just want time and to be present, and they're lives.

That's it. The other thing is if you're not around your dad, just you don't have to overthink this. You know, you don't have to send them steaks or anything else. And by the way, those are great things. Go to those steak places. There's like, I'm not sponsored by any of these. Omaha steaks used to be a big thing. I don't even know if they exist anymore. But like

cow Kow is a good one. You know, go get your dad like some great steaks and great lamb chops, you know, some some filelets like really, you know, get him dialed in. Send those to them. By the way, if he eats meat. Golf balls. This is the funny thing.

I don't care how rich you are, how poor you are, if you play golf, no one's ever mad at getting golf balls and get him some nice ones, you know, go out and you know, get some titleist pro v ones and if you really want to go the extra mile, you can order them ahead of time and you can get them, you know, like personalized. You can put like Dad, or you could get them like say I was born in nineteen seventy one. All the numbers can be seventy one, so you can personalize them as well, so you know,

you can think a little bit. But I digress. The point of this is if you can't think of a gift, or you just don't have the time or the money, whatever, just do something personal. I think the greatest thing that I could ever get from my kids is a is a letter for them to sit down and write me a card. Write me a letter and not just like a silly snoopy Father's Day card and it says it and they go, oh love you like something where you've

taken the time and you have been thoughtful. I think any gift for a dad that's thoughtful, something that means something to you, A picture from when you were kids and have it framed so he can put it in his closet or you know, in his office. Something that truly means something to you, guys. And it's hard to come up with ideas for you because you know, who

knows what connects you. Maybe it's fly fishing, maybe it's you like flying or or parish whatever, golf, Get something meaningful, maybe you went to Saint Andrews together and played golf, you know, buy something special or maybe print a picture from that. But something very personal is really what your dads want, you know. They say being a parent is a thankless task. And yes, as you guys get older, as kids get older, sometimes we have that realization, especially

when we become parents. You call your parents, you call your mom and dad, you say, wow, I was a real pain in the butt. Thank you for being there, thank you for loving me. But as your kids are, you know, are growing up, it's hard for them to have perspective. Why would they write you don't know what you don't know? So trying to get your kids to take a moment, write a letter, you know, really write out a nice card to say what you're grateful for

about your dad. And this goes from Mother's Day too, but since it's Father's Day, you know, say what you're really grateful for, what your dad means to you what you love that he does, or something silly that he did, or whatever it is. Just you know, even if you have a contentious relationship, try to let that go into the bridge and just for this one moment, reach out cross that bridge and tell him what you love about him. That's it. I go back to that dance recital thing,

because here's what we really want every Father's Day. This week is the US Open golf tournament. It's one of the biggest tournaments of the year. As you guys know, as Lauren Begrudges, I love golf. I love it. What I really want to do on Sunday is get up, see my kids, maybe have a little brunch, little breakfast, and I love cooking, so my thing will be cooking my kid's breakfast if they're happen to be here at the house, and then we just I really just want

to watch the US Open, hopefully with the kids. Doesn't have to be but that's the relaxing day to sit back watch the US Open and then maybe barbecue that night. The funny thing is about Father's Day is I often and I think a lot of fathers end up cooking, like we end up barbecuing for our family. I don't know why that is, because you know, Mother's Day, it's like, Okay, that is the day, like make sure mom doesn't cook, Let's take her out, let's do something. Let's just make

sure she doesn't do anything. Father's Day is not really like that. I think it's because a oftentimes stereotypically, we're painting with a broadbrush here. A lot of the moms cook, a lot of the dads don't. I do love to cook, and I do love to barbecue, and I do love to make my family happy, and that it's cathartic for me.

And so part of my joy is going to be on Sunday is cooking a beautiful steak dinner for my family and open up a great bottle of wine and just sit back and listen, and sit back and talk to my kids, listen to them and hear where they are and find out everything that's going on in their life. One more thing I want to add, because I am my kids are a product of divorce. My wife and I got divorced, and I really am grateful, and I

am saying this too, hopefully help you guys. I'm grateful that on Mother's Day, I make sure my kids know they have a great mom, and I make sure that they are with her, and then vice versa. On Father's Day. She was always great about making sure the kids were with me and making sure, you know, when the kids were too young to buy gifts. You know, now they're on their own, they're in their twenties, but when they

were too young, make sure the kids had gifts. You know, make sure you bought flowers for the kids to give to their mom. Vice versa. Make sure the kids get a little something, a card, a letter, a picture, you know, so they have something to give their dad. I always appreciate that about my ex wife, and I think she always appreciated that about me. And I know not everybody can do that because you're on really not great terms.

But if you can be the bigger person and do that once a year Father's Day and Mother's Day, it goes such a long way, not just for the person, not just for the mom and the dad, but also for the kids. It just lets the kids know, Hey, I have a mom who loves me. I have a mom who respects my dad. I have a dad who loves me. I have a dad who respects my mom. That goes a long way. It really is important, and a lot of us are a product of divorce. I am,

my kids are. Unfortunately, it's just the way. It's the way of the world, the way things go, and so I do think as someone who can speak on that it is important. It really helps. And so for those of you who have the chance to celebrate with your dad, make sure you take that opportunity because, as I know, thanks to Lauren and the perspective she's given me, it is a blessing. It's a blessing to be a dad.

I am so grateful for my kids. It's a blessing to have a dad to still celebrate that he gets to call his grandkids and talk to them as well. It is a beautiful thing. And take a moment and if nothing else, pick up the phone say Dad, I love you, I forgive you. If there's problems in your family, I forgive you. I love you for whatever you are, whatever you gave me. You're my dad. And you don't get to choose your dad. You don't get to choose your mom, you don't get to choose your family. But

that's the dad you were given. That's dad you got. And if you can just reach out and just send some love, be grateful you have the opportunity to do it, and I know I will, And I can't wait to hug my kids this week. I can't wait to just feel that love and get the perspective of man, I help do this, I help create these humans. It is a wonderful thing. So Happy Father's Day to all the

dads out there. I give you all the love and for all the bad ties and the bad other things that you're going to get, and we will put on a brave face and tell you how much we love it. That the coffee mug that you made in pottery class, or the ashtray that no one's used in the last forty five years, we will take it and we will love you just the same. Happy Father's Day, everybody.