#357

Watched Bear Grylls again and his show 'Running Wild.' The guest this time was Sterling K. Brown, star of the TV series 'This is Us.' Sterling said the following and I had to immediately transcribe it. Well, not until the show ended, which I watched with Michael, and after Sterling's words about fatherhood and love I just looked at Michael and said, "It's true." I thought about saying, "It's fucking true," for emphasis – I really wanted the message, as a powerful truth about parent/child love, to stick – but M 'n' m have never heard the F-word exit my lips... because I only use it very, very, very, very rarely, probably just quoting others in fact (oh bullshit, I hear you saying). Anyway, on fatherhood...

Sterling K. Brown: "My dad passed away when I was 10 years old. It's interesting, I'm 40 now so I spent three-quarters of my life without him, but what I remember more than anything is that he loved me, like, unequivocally, you know what I'm sayin'? That kind of love, you can't understand it until you have kids yourself. And then once you have them you're like, 'they can never love me as much as I love them.' Because they're just here. Like, I just love that they're here! You know? I was that for my dad, and he let me know every chance he got. I catch myself sayin', 'Did I tell you I love you today?' because my dad would say that all the time, and I'd be like (rolls eyes), 'Yeah dad.' Man, and I just try to pour it all back into these children that I have right now."

My parents did this well, and I'm paying it forward. There is nothing to earn; I don't know if kids understand this until they have they're own. Nothing to preserve, nothing to analyze. The love... it's just here, and MASSIVE, because kids were born. Just born. That's it. "Like, I just love that they're here!" I'm grateful.