Saturday, September 27, 2008

20 years

A lot happens in 20 years.
A lot changes in 20 years and yet so much is actually the same.
I have just realised in the last few days that it was 20 years ago that I graduated with a degree. The fact that I have one always mildly surprises me, but the reality is that I am “degreed” as is said nowadays. I had a very amusing email exchange about that word with a gentleman that I work for who probably figured that it was grammatically incorrect. Well, considering I was educated in three languages, I won’t be far wrong to say that in all likelihood I have better grammar skills than most on the planet.
20 years…. A lot has happened in 20 years and the reality is that I am nowhere in my life that I really expected to be and at the same time have done so much that I did not expect to do at all.
Most significant of all that I have achieved is being a father. I have always wanted to be a good father, but often fail at it and it now consumes me at all times to be a better father every day. A better man for the benefit of my children
The challenge is to be able to manage my own ambitions and dreams and be the father that my children deserve at all times.
I recently spent a month with them and for the first time since becoming a father some 15 years ago, I realised how much they do actually need me. My input, my love, my unconditional support.
To know that is, in itself, is the greatest achievement of the last 20 years. Nothing else compares to that knowledge.

The rest is irrelevant.