As I was driving—taking my little girl to the amusement park—I realized something:

My father is still with me.

My dad passed away a long time ago—probably close to 20 years ago now.

We were never very close. In my eyes, he was always the anti-role model.

He wasn’t always there for me, but he was there the only way he knew how. He was all he could be and he really couldn’t be anything more.

I’ve written about my dad before in the blog, so I don’t really want to go into full-on details, but I really want to explain something to you: my dad has inspired me to be the best dad I can, but not for the reasons you’d think.

When it comes down to my little girl, I just want her to be everything she wants to be.

I think she’s the most incredible person I’ve ever met.  She’s beautiful, she’s smart, she’s funny, and she’s full of life. She can do whatever she wants.

And that’s the beauty of it.

My dad wanted me to be anything but what I was.

He was always so disappointed that I wasn’t a good golfer. Disappointed that I wasn’t a good student. Disappointed that I didn’t want to get into finance. I didn’t want to go to law school or medical school.

So he chose to be disappointed instead of just being happy with the talented person that I really was.

That’s the major difference between adults and children. Kids—they’re just happy. That’s all they know how to be. They don’t know anything but that. So why not just allow them to be happy with whatever they want to be and love them for what they really are?

They’re beautiful, happy souls that just radiate life.

We were all once beautiful, happy souls that radiated life. All just simple, amazing children before life became so cluttered.

So all I see when I watch my beautiful, little girl is happiness, and how I can participate in her happiness and I can be there to guide her to be whatever she wants to be.

Imagine if all of you had parents that actually allowed you to be that. Do you think you’d still have some of the difficulties you have right now in your life?

Today, let’s get really raw about your childhood. Let’s talk about your parents.

What about your parents do you love? What about your parents drives you crazy? What would you change if you could go back in time?

Let’s get raw, open and real today. Let’s talk about parents.