Every month I have a "Bar-B-Q Weekend" with some of the boys from Willow Pond. It has been neat to watch these boys become givers and not takers. To start the weekend, the boys come with us to our monthly feed the homeless Bar-B-Q to help set up and serve the homeless. After the Bar-B-Q, they come to my house for a sleepover. We hang out, play games, and eat pizza. Recently, when we were all sitting around the table eating pizza, we started a conversation about our fathers. Most of the guys were contributing stories, and a common thread was absentee dads. As we went around the table each boy shared his story. Then, I shared my own story about my father.
I told them that I also had an absentee father. The boys were really surprised and their responses made clear that they had assumed a lot about me. After the conversation, I asked them a question.
"Do you know that you don't have to be like your father?"
One of the boys looked up and said, "Yeah, if we are not like our fathers then our children won't have to go through what we've been through."
I responded, "You can make your own choices now to break the cycle, and when your children grow up you can be there for them."
-- Rickey Fanning
