This week was a mixed bag of emotions in my family life. My oldest (son) has gone off to college and my youngest (daughter) joins her older sister as a fellow high school student.
My job description as father is undergoing a 're-write' as this time of transition opens up a new set of conditions with different requirements, deliverables, and timelines.
Times of transition tend to bring about anxiety, stress, and a lack of clarity that can be very disconcerting.
For me, times of transition always lead me to books...for insight, ideas, validation, and even for a bit of escape.
My experience has been that the most impactful and important books I have read have been the ones that somehow FOUND ME, not the other way around.
They have not been the NY Times bestsellers, nor the ones by well known authors....but rather the obscure ones that somehow found their way onto my radar screen.
They are the ones about which I can immediately recall where I was when they found me, what situation I was facing, and one or two key takeaways that I incorporated into my life.
This week, I reached for two such books on my shelf that found me over 15 years ago when I was trying to formulate my strategy on the kind of father I would be to my young children.
Once again, these books worked their magic. This time, though, in a slightly fresh way that reconnected me with the broader, deeper sense of purpose I have about my role as father that the emotion-filled milestones were clouding.
They helped to restore clarity.
What powerful, thought-provoking books have found you?
Where were you when they found you?
How did they impact you?
Perhaps today, one or both of the two books that found me were intended to be on your radar screen:
Letters to My Son
by Kent Nerburn
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters
by Meg Meeker, MD
