Name: Chris Williams | City: Cleveland, OH | IG @Eleyeel
What does being a father mean to you?
Being a father to me is the most important thing in the world to me. So many of us in the black community (males especially) grew up with out our fathers being in our lives as much as we wanted and needed them to be and I know how that made me feel and I don’t EVER want my daughter to have those same feelings that I had to deal with growing up.
Describe your experience with your father growing up and how that impacted you today.
Growing up my father wasn’t around nearly as much as I would have liked. Most things about being a man I had to learn from trial and error or watching my friends who had fathers in there lives and were taught certain things that my father wasn’t around to teach me. I know my father loves me don’t get me wrong by any means. He was young and so was my mother they were both tryna figure things out and at the time him leaving to go to the army was what was best for him. I don’t think he knew how much it was affect us when he didn’t come back.
What things did you take from your experience growing up into your own fatherhood journey?
“Patience is a virtue” and your child’s love is unconditional! No matter what mistakes you are going to make along the way your child will ALWAYS love you. This little bit of time you spend with them means the world to them. The joy I feel when my daughter sees me and runs to me laughing and smiling is enough to make you forget about your other problems and things you have going on because in that small little moment is when I get to experience true love and happiness.
Have you had any obstacles on your fatherhood journey?
Things didn’t work out as I would have wanted with my daughters mother. We both played a part in us not working out which does put a strain on me and my daughters relationship because I went from being around here EVERYDAY 7days a week while me and her mom were together to now ever other weekend. I know it affects my daughter maybe not so much because she’s still young but I know once she gets older it will affect her more because I’m not right there in the moments she’s gonna want me to be.
What advice would you give others new on their fatherhood journey?
Well I can say this : when I found out I was having a baby I was nervous, scared, doubted myself etc because I felt like I didn’t want to fail at being a father but once your kid is here if you put in the time and effort to be the best version on you that you can be and not what other ppl want you to be then you will be fine. Of course you’re gonna make mistakes along the way nobody’s perfect but as long as you learn from them and keep putting your best foot forward then things will fall into place the way GOD wanted them to.
If you could write a quick letter to your father, starting with “Dear Father,” what would you say?
Dear father,
I want to let you know I love you. It was times that I was upset that you were not around more but when I look back and think about it I realized how much the saying “everything happens for a reason” really does apply to everything in life. You not being around motivated me be around as much as I can for my daughter . It made me want to me be around for all the little things that you missed out on with me.
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