This weekend we got together with our chosen family in Asheville, NC for our annual holiday reunion (yes, we're a little late). 6 adults, 3 kids = total love and chaos. There were two dads (one being my husband, Adam, and the other, our dear friend, Dean) in our group, and throughout the weekend I witnessed them running around changing diapers, wiping butts, reading bedtime stories, giving baths, and engaged in a myriad of other essential child-rearing activities. On our last night together, as I sat in the kitchen, sipping on a glass of Malbec with my friend Beth (Dean's wife), I looked over in the living room and observed our husbands and sons, Jack and Miles, sprawled out on the floor engrossed in a board game. At that moment it occurred to me how grateful I was that the boys would grow up believing that a man's strongest trait can indeed be his capacity to be gentle. That a father can and should be just as nurturing, and kind, and caring as a mother. That a man's role as an engaged and involved parent is so much more impacting, rewarding, than his role at the office. That a true life partner is just that: a "partner". I challenge all of us, particularly women, to honor our husbands and fathers of our children - by gifting them equal opportunities to model what it truly means to be a great father. What it means to be a great man.
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