By: Benji Nunn, President & Partner

Estimated read time: 3 minutes 

It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been 10 years since I became a father.

When I wrote my first Father’s Day article in 2016, I was experiencing fatherhood through the eyes of a brand-new dad. Everything was new. Every smile, every laugh, every milestone felt significant. I wrote about how I wouldn’t trade the small moments for anything.

Ten years later, I still wouldn’t trade those small moments for anything.

But if I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be this: sit in those moments longer.

Slow down. Be fully present. Appreciate them to the highest degree possible while they’re happening.

Recently, My oldest son and I were finishing a hike together. Nearing the end, both of us were tired. He looked up at me and asked, “Dad, will you give me a piggyback ride?”

My first instinct was to joke that I was getting too old and that maybe he should be giving me a piggyback ride instead. After all, a 10-year-old weighs a lot more than an infant.

But then another thought crossed my mind:

How many more piggyback rides am I going to get to give him?

One day there will be

no more piggyback rides.

I looked down at him with a grin that probably communicated, “Sure… but not for long.”

“Jump on,” I said.

As I carried him down the trail, I realized this wasn’t really about a piggyback ride. It was about one of those fleeting moments that seem ordinary while you’re living them but become priceless when you look back.

The truth is, parenting is a series of seasons. The first Father’s Day article I wrote celebrated the wonder of beginning the journey. Ten years later, I’m learning a different lesson: every season eventually passes.

One day there will be no more piggyback rides.

One day there will be no bedtime stories.

One day there will be no little hand reaching for mine as we cross a parking lot.

And while those realities can make a father sentimental, they also make me grateful.

In that 2016 article, I wrote about cherishing the small moments because they are the moments that matter most. A decade later, I believe that even more strongly than I did then.

The small moments are the big moments.

The conversation in the car. The walk through the woods. The piggyback ride at the end of a long hike. The spontaneous hug. The laugh that comes out of nowhere.

Those are the moments that shape our children, and those are the moments that shape us.

Over the last ten years, I’ve learned something else as well. Fatherhood is about much more than creating memories.

Whether we realize it or not, our children are learning from us what love sounds like. They are learning what affirmation feels like. They are learning how grace is expressed and how correction is given.

For many children, a father’s voice becomes one of the strongest influences on how they understand the voice of God.

The way we encourage them, discipline them, forgive them, delight in them, and spend time with them can help shape how they believe God sees them. Not because we are perfect reflections of our Heavenly Father, but because we are often their first glimpse of what fatherhood looks like.

That reality is both humbling and motivating.

This Father’s Day, I’m thankful for ten years with my children. I’m thankful for the hikes, the laughs, the conversations, and yes, even the piggyback rides. But I’m also thankful for the reminder that every moment ‘carries more weight’ than I sometimes realize.

One day there will be no more piggyback rides. But long after those moments have passed, I pray that the words I’ve spoken, the love I’ve shown, and the time we’ve shared will continue pointing him toward the perfect love of his Heavenly Father.

Ten years ago, I learned that becoming a father changes you. Ten years later, I’m still discovering just how much.