I Must Be Doing Something Right

There are moments in my life as a father when I realize, “Maybe I’m doing a pretty good job.” Like when Grant began his love for Star Wars and his dislike for the Yankees. Another one of those moments came last night. Every year during March Madness, I help our kids fill out a bracket. This began when Grant was less than 1 year old. I would set two cheerios in front of him for each team, and whichever one he grabbed first would be his selection for that game. Thus began our yearly family bracketology.

So last night, we filled out brackets. For Claire, she loved picking teams that shared names with some of her friends; hence, Xavier, Murray St., Morgan St., and Siena go pretty far in her bracket this year. Tessa decided to pick the ones that sounded cutest. Even so, they’ll probably do better than me with their picks. But what really affirmed my fatherhood is what Grant did for his picks. We initially went through the bracket together. But right before bed, he decided to redo his picks, so he wanted to take a blank bracket to bed last night with him. So I printed it off, he grabbed a pen and went to his room. About an hour later, he called us in his room – he had thoughtfully and completely filled out his bracket, including the final score of the championship game! Success. I must be doing something right.