As soon as the words left her mouth, I knew it would sting Cliff.
I turned, watching him, observing his face.
There we were going up the dirty stairwell, our children hobbling up slowly, one painful step at a time, when a passer-by hurried past us saying, “I don’t miss raising kids when they’re at this age.”
She sprinted off. Off to run her errands. While the four of us, a clown of a squad, made the BIGGEST deal going up six flights of stairs.
“YOU CAN DO IT!”
“YEAH, WELL DONE!”
“YAY, ANOTHER STEP!”
We took forever. With a tired and hungry 3 and 5 year old in tow, the journey up the many flights of stairs was painstaking.
And I guess, that’s how parenting is. Messy, painful, and slower than we’d like.
When I look at this photo, I remember it all too well- the sleepless nights, the bleary-eyed mornings. But I’ll always remember the day, when I, hit with exhaustion and depression from the daily night feedings and transiting back to work full-time, you put your foot down and said, “I’m doing all the night shifts from now on.”
You meant it. Every word.
Such is the love of the father and husband you are. And for that, I will never forget this picture-
-speaking of the everyday ordinariness of parenthood, and the extraordinariness of a father’s and husband’s love.
Happy Father’s Day, Cliff.
***
This Fathers’ Day, we held an IG giveaway to bless someone with a book that transformed our parenting the most. It’s none other than *drumroll* 🥁 “The Power of a Parent’s Blessing” by Craig Hill! If there’s only one book we could recommend expecting couples, it’s not a book on pregnancy, sleep training, or nutrition. But THIS! 📘
**This giveaway has ended but we’ll be doing more of these in the coming months. Feel free to join us on IG @tamwaijia where we can continue growing a community of blessers to gift gifts that keep on giving!