We teamed up with our friend Bradley Hasemeyer to share his story on becoming a dad and his journey through navigating fatherhood. A wearer of many hats- dad, comedian, and sometimes host. Bradley is a jack-of-all-trades and a master of dad-hood. We also hear he can get down on some hip-hop dance classes with his daughter Ellis.
“All dads know: parenting is an adventure. I say, “adventure” because there are triumphant days of reaching the top of the mountain and looking at the gorgeous view…and there are days when you take the wrong turn and end up stuck in quicksand with no obvious way out.
My adventure began when Ellis, my 7-year-old daughter was born. I was so excited to be a dad but, honestly, those first few weeks, I didn’t have that instant connection that I expected. I now know many other fathers experience this as well, but at the time I kind of felt like a failure because I wasn’t head over heels in love with this precious new life.
Thankfully, however, after a few months, things got much better. My daughter started smiling at me; we were connecting and I loved it. Something else happened, as well. I found my dad language was “doing” and thus began finding the adventure in everyday things.
With Ellis, it started as taking walks in the stroller, then running errands together or putting her in a hiking pack and hitting the mountain. Now we find time to cook, makeup scavenger hunts, and even watch Marvel movies together (I fast forward through most of them while I supplement with commentary).
Our newest family addition, Loic, has come through adoption which has been its own adventure of mountain tops and quicksand. He joins our 24-year-old foster daughter Ashley, and Ellis who already know we love to travel, laugh, and of course take an adventure.
Happy Father’s Day to all my fellow dads out there who, like myself, are living the ups and downs while trying their best to love well, be humble and make as many dad jokes as possible. “
