{We are 6 days out from Father’s Day 2014 and to honor the men in our lives, we are turning over the blogging reins to some pretty special dads this week. Check out all of our dads this week as they share their joys, regrets, and journeys to fatherhood with Austin Dads Blog.}

Today, I am incredibly proud to have my own father sharing his regrets about being a dad. I’m even more proud of the message he writes for all fathers and fathers-to-be!

As “Father’s day” approaches I cannot help but reflect on the real meaning of the day. I would like to pass on, to all the young fathers, just a little advice and wisdom from an aging baby boomer who has been there and as they say “done it and have the battle scars to prove it.”

This day really has to be more than just FATHER’S DAY. Having lived, what I consider to be a very productive and fruitful life, having two beautiful daughters who have blessed me with four grandchildren, I am what one would consider and as Montgomery Gentry so eloquently says in his song, “a lucky, lucky man”.

I am college educated, I had a successful thirty year career with the greatest law enforcement agency in the country, I am financially secure for the rest of my life and I have my health. One might say what more can one man ask for? I would, however, trade all of this in a heartbeat to live certain portions of my life over again; to be able to correct all those things I should have done as a father that I did not do.

I, like many of you are probably doing right this minute, put my career and that next proverbial rung in the ladder ahead of my family and especially my daughters. Working 80-100 hours per week, trying to achieve one more promotion or one more accolade from my superiors, and thinking my job could not get along without me was more important than attending a soccer game, a school function, or merely taking the time to “spend more time” with each of my children. One day it hit me like a ton of bricks; I had reached the end of my career and I realized, too late I might add, that the best things in my life were gone. My little girls were grown and I had missed the most important parts of their lives. I had missed their first date, getting home after curfew, their first broken heart, and as a matter of fact, had missed their first everything’s; the cold reality was, I could never ever make it up to them nor could I ever again get that time in their lives back.

Age has a way of making one, hopefully, a little wiser. I am not going to miss out on their adult life and I will attempt to relive their childhood through my grandchildren. As much as I love my grandchildren it will not, however, be the same.

Men, make Father’s day every day and take the time to be a part of your children’s daily life. It is ok to work hard and provide for your family but do not neglect the best part your life and that is spending time with your children. Remember, they are only with you for a short time. One day your little girl or boy will be grown and gone.

What memories will they have of the time they spent with you?