This Father’s Day, However It Finds You

    Some of us grew up with fathers who were present, steady, and loving. Some of us lost our fathers, whether to time, to distance, or to pain. Some of us never knew our fathers, or carry complicated stories about them. And some of us are still figuring out what that relationship means.

    There are people who are fathers, who want to be fathers, or who once were fathers in ways that changed everything.

    There are fathers who grieve, fathers who show up in quiet ways, and those who carry the ache of absence.

    Some are dads in the traditional sense, others in roles they stepped into by choice, by love, by necessity.

    Some care for children. Some care for animals, communities, or dreams.

    To the fathers who are here: thank you for your strength, your softness, and the ways you try… even when no one sees it.

    To those who long to be fathers, who mourn children they cannot hold, or who are navigating fatherhood in unexpected ways: you are not forgotten. This day may stir up more than it settles. That’s okay.

    To those remembering fathers who are no longer here, or wishing things had been different: your story matters. Your grief is real.

    Father’s Day, like fatherhood itself, is layered.

    May we let it be what it is, for ourselves and for others.

    May we honor the love, acknowledge the loss, and make space for the in-between.

    Wishing you peace, presence, and compassion this Father’s Day.