Tom, over at the Base Camp Legends blog, has an excellent video that he made as a tribute to his dad and grandfathers. The video is awesome, and the love of the outdoors his family instilled in him is amazing. It got me thinking about the subject of this post.

With my wife and I having a daughter on her way, it got me wondering. What kind of legacy do I want to leave with her? I am not trying to wish myself dead, and I think I have many, many years left in me. But what I’m trying to say is more about what kind of lessons and teachings I want to be instilled in her, so that she may turn into a positive member of society, and and all around good person, rather then what legacy I leave behind. What values must she be able to take with her and how does one simple dad instill those values?

I tend to think that the outdoors is a very good start down this path. Nature has a way of grounding people and teaching them the importance of life and death. Nature would also teach her about cause and effect as well as patience and discipline. All good traits for a little girl to have. All good traits that will allow her to grow up focused and confident in the person that she is.

Now I know that nature can’t do everything, and that there are many other things that need to be done in order for her to make her way in this world–reading bedtime stories, and being a guest at her tea party table. But I do think that the natural world is a good base for allowing her to become the woman that she will ultimately be one day. The woman that she will grow into.

I want to be able to do the things that help her look at me, like Tom looks at his father and grandfathers. I want to be able to be there at a moment’s notice. To be there through the rough times as well as through the good times. I want to be there when she is going through life and adjusting to today’s world. I know that some of those times will involve me watching her play sports, or possibly watching her dance recital, but I also hope that those times include helping her reel in her first fish, or helping her shoot her bow.

Ultimately, I want my legacy, when viewed from my daughters eyes, to be one of joy. I want to know that her time spent with me was time spent well, and for her to know, that on this first official father’s day for me, that I know the time I spend with her will be more than time well spent.  It will be an honor.  It will only be a matter of time before I bait your first hook or hear your first laugh, and it will be a much shorter time before it is my time to let you bait that hook yourself.

I hope that in between those times I show you what life is all about, and that as time passes by, we still get to share our memories together…….as a father and a daughter…..in the outdoors and beyond!

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