Here's what 4 years of Fatherhood has taught me.

Four years ago, this past weekend marked the most significant moment of my life.

The birth of my daughter!

She is the most incredible, joyful, kind, and loving child I have ever witnessed.

Not only is she amazing, but her presence alone in my life provides a life-changing experience that I'm blessed enough to be a part of daily.

Being her dad is the greatest job (yes, parenting is a job, the best job) in the world!

And I don't take it for granted.

Because becoming a father was not the greatest experience.

It was seven years on a rollercoaster of emotions, doctor visits, watching my wife give herself shots, and many moments wondering if we'd ever get the chance to be parents.

But, here we are—proud parents of the most beautiful little "butterfly."

After four years of being a Dad, here are the lessons I've learned:

'Quality time' is overrated.

Daddy-daughter dates on Thursdays, family vacations, and special days with your children are special.

But to dismiss the rest of the time as something less than 'quality' is foolish. I'll take it all, even the boring.

As Jerry Seinfeld said,

Yep.

Please give me the boring, ordinary, and mundane.

Give me the average Saturday, the games on the floor in the evening, Sunday afternoons with no agenda, and that car ride home from school in Dad's truck with no screens.

In fact, time is all that matters…

Most of us live with such arrogance about life.

We assume we have infinite time to do all these things and tend to all these causes. But we don't.

We even wish time away. How sad!

And I get it. Believe me, I do.

On two occasions in my daughter's short life, she underwent hip surgery and six weeks in a body cast. Not fun for her (or anyone watching her).

But I refuse to wish time away, which isn't easy.

Because time with the people we love is immeasurable.

Every day we get older, our parents get older, and our children get older. Duh, that's obvious.

Ok, why do we put off getting in shape, playing with our children, calling our parents, making a situation right, and living the life of our dreams?

Life is going on right now. Live accordingly.

The list of things that truly matter is small.

Being a parent takes a lot of time.

It's the single greatest productivity hack of all time.

You don't have all those extra hours you once had…which, if you're like me, wasn't spent on much good anyways.

More and more, I find myself asking, "Does this really matter?"

The list of things that truly matters to me shrinks by the day.

But she and her mother stay at the very top.

She teaches me way more than I teach her.

I love teaching her about things in life.

But the truth is that I've learned way more from her than I've taught her.

Her innocence reminds me of what we all had more of before we allowed the world to change us: more patience, presence, kindness, gentleness, pure joy from within, etc.

I'm saddened when I see parents who won't let their guard down enough to enter their child's world, as if it's beneath them.

Are you kidding me?

Give me at all.

I want the waterpark, living room dances, Disney World, kid's movies, and whatever else is headed my way--even the Barbies.

If I'm blessed with old age and the opportunity to sit in a rocking chair with my wife, then this time of being a parent is very short.

Someday, she probably won't think I'm very cool. And she'll probably stop running out of bed every morning to hug "daddy " as if she hasn't seen me in months.

Until then…

Give me the 'quality' and 'garbage' time. Let me soak up the silly moments, the joy that lives inside her, and all the time I can get.

I can't wait to see what she teaches me next.

Thanks for reading!!

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