Being a Single Parent.

 Close to thirteen years ago I had the miracle of life unfold right before my eyes. I witnessed my beautiful daughter enter the world  named Sadie in Wichita Kansas. I had just turned 24 a few days before and going back into that time of my life I wasn’t well prepared. Hockey led me to Wichita and I had the blessing of meeting a very sweet and loving girl. Being away from home and having an extreme lifestyle didn’t do wonders for our relationship obviously. The realities of any professional athlete is that they  have to make a lot of sacrifices in life  in our to get paid for something they love to do. I guess you could say that chapter of my life was a whirlwind considering how fast everything was moving. Now years later my baby girl is almost a teenager. Coming from a mans perspective I can’t imagine how hard it is to have so many things changing on the inside and out.

 All I can remember was always wondering where I fit in. Being the cool guy or a jock , I felt I had to live up to a certain image. I sympathize with young people these days, as there’s countless adds everywhere on what you should look like, or if facebook is aloud, twitter, I-phone..You get my drift. It’s a fast paced society for everyone to take in. I remember when I was a kid it was a bit simpler. The fact of the matter in my life is that I don’t see my daughter very often. If I had my dream I would have been there daily in the past. But I made some choices that made it impossible. When a child is in a broken home, or without her real mother and father it can be very overwhelming. My heart goes out to all you single parents that don’t get the opportunity to see your child grow.

As long as we can do the best we can. There’s no book that has the complete instructions on how to be a perfect parent. And I’m sure no handbooks on being single parent. What’s important is TODAY! and just trying to set as good of example as we possibly can. Change is obvious, we all grow so quick. Sometimes I forget the fact I’m still not a youngster myself. But with age comes wisdom and different ways to look at life and everything that we stand for. Hat’s off to all the parents that have put their dreams on the shelf so their kids could have the best life possible.