The goal for any father should be to inspire his children. On his death bed — and hopefully sometime before that, too — he yearns to hear that he’s been an inspiration for, provided meaningful guidance to and simply paved the way for his children.
This past weekend, I’m proud to report that a reverse scenario played out in our household. My daughter inspired me.
This should go as no surprise to anyone who knows her. She’s courageous and always open to new things. But, man, was I in awe.
And it all happened on the ice during her skating lessons. Now, these aren’t your ordinary skating lessons. And, there’s no “figure” to be found. She’s in full pads, hockey skates, jersey and helmet. In a sense, she’s perfect.
It was the fourth week of “Learn to Skate” and it’s been slow going. The first week, she, “hated it.” The second week, “my brain hurt,” because of the helmet. Last week, though, she started to get it. And this past week, WOW.
She got on the ice and started buzzing around the ice with the help of her “walker” made of PVC piping. Then, she pushed it about 10 feet in front of her and skated there on her own. Next, she pushed it even farther and skated to it again. Before long, she was going from one side of the ice to the next.
Her mother and I were clapping, cheering, crying and burning the battery on our phones capturing the footage.
But here’s the best part: she fell — a lot. She was off balance — a lot. She slammed into the boards — a lot. She had so many excuses to quit and to be honest, if she wanted to get off the ice, I would’ve let her. But she didn’t. She kept going. She kept trying. And in doing so, my little daughter made herself comfortable on the ice.
Now, she’s so fired up to get to her next practice. In fact, we even hung out a bit after her session to watch a college team warm up and play.
It’s one of those lessons that will honestly stick with me. Maybe it’s a testament to our parenting — likely not — that she was able to do what she did. In any event, she showed us something that day and that’s enough for us.
