Showing our child the way.

I never really knew true responsibility until I became a father. Sure we all have responsibilities and we have to honor our commitments and promises if we wish to progress and move forward in our lives. We all have responsibilities to our parents, our family, our teachers, our friends, our employers and to ourselves. As we all know these are certainly a major aspect of our lives from our childhood through our adulthood and for the duration of our lives.

The most important responsibility we have in life is to ourselves as we are the one who sets the tone for our life and how we live it. We make all our decisions once we leave our parents and make a life for ourselves. We have to learn very important life lessons so we grow and develop into mature, responsible adults. We draw a lot of our experience from our childhood learning a lot of valuable lessons from our parents, our teachers and our friends.

When I was a young man searching for direction and seeking companionship I was dealing with the loss of my mother and the sad isolation my father was feeling. It was a difficult time and I was very grateful to my parents for all they did to help me mature and become a young man but I felt very sad for my dad now alone and my mom who died too young. Although I was in my late 20's at this time I was very saddened by the course of events and at times did cry as my emotions got the best of me. I knew though I had to be strong as my mother and father always told me that no matter what difficult things we face in life we must stay positive and work through the difficulties because our life still goes on.

When I witnessed the birth of my son and saw him gently placed into my wife's arms by the nurse I just felt such joy and happiness. I was never this happy in all my life. I was blessed with the most incredible gift I could ever dream of and that instant connection was what made me really grow into manhood quickly as I now realized what true responsibility was all about. My parents taught me well as I accepted my responsibility as a new father with love, joy and a lifelong commitment to my wife and son.

When I see my son I am just so proud and I wish for his life to be extraordinary and filled with promise, joy and happiness. As a parent we always want the best for our child and we will do everything in our power to show them the way and guide them so they can one day go out and experience life as a mature adult with limitless possibilities.

It is the most important job we will ever have in life which is raising our child, nurturing them and empowering them giving them hope and a vision for their future. If I can be great at one thing in my life I would want it to be as a compassionate, loving and caring father to my son as he means everything to me and I want him to be happy, have self confidence and love life.

I remember being so happy and excited when my son started to interact with us and smile after Maria and I spent many nights reading a story book to him. We knew he enjoyed story time because his eyes would light up and his curiosity peaked with every word we read to him. It seemed he never wanted to sleep once we started reading one of his favorite stories. These moments are what make parenthood so meaningful and so special. These simple things in a child's life are so important because they leave lasting impressions and have so much meaning. I still remember story time when my mom read to me and how it made me feel so happy and special too.

As our child grows and develops it seems that the time just passes by so quickly and before you know it they are asking for advice on dating and what college to attend. It all happens in a span of 20 years from birth to being college bound so during that time we must always be there for our kids and advise them and always support them and encourage them throughout showing them all we know and letting them learn and question us and themselves so they learn the valuable lessons that life has to offer.

I will always be there for my son to help show him the way because I love him so.

Edward D. Iannielli III