Elvie Shane - My Boy

Tomorrow is Father's Day.  There's a different take on this day than on Mother's Day, because there's a different take on fathers than on mothers.  The ideal of motherhood is unconditional love and nurturing; a common view of fatherhood is discipline.

As Robert Frost said, You don't have to deserve your mother's love, but you have to earn your father's.  That's a harsh way of stating the difference.  That view is as common as it is unfair.

Some men step up to that unconditional love, even when they still provide that discipline that children need.  Nowhere do you see this more clearly than with Step Fathers who raise their step children as their own.

My Son-In-Law the Chief is one of these men.  He loves his step kids like they were his own flesh and blood.  Quite frankly, this made a big impression on me when I first met him.  He's a good man.  Yeah, there's a country music song for him, written by a Step Dad.

My Boy (Songwriters: Elvie Shane, Russell Sutton, Lee Star and Nick Columbia)

He ain't got my smile, that don't bother me a bit
He's got somebody else's eyes I'm seeing myself in
I'm holding on to every moment, God knows I've missed a few
The day we met I knew I had some catching up to do

He ain't my blood, ain't got my name
But if he did, I'd feel the same
I wasn't there for his first steps
But I ain't missed a ball game yet
And that ain't ever gonna change
I could never walk away
Yeah, he's my son and that's my choice
He ain't my blood but he's my, he's my boy

It hit me like a train, the first time he called me dad
In a three stick figure crayon picture with all of us holding hands
His mama said, "I understand if it's too soon for this"
I didn't let her finish, I took it to the kitchen and I stuck it on the fridge, yeah

He ain't my blood, ain't got my name
But if he did, I'd feel the same
I wasn't there for his first steps
But I ain't missed a ball game yet
And that ain't ever gonna change
I could never walk away
Yeah, he's my son and that's my choice
He ain't my blood but he's my, he's my boy

He's Saturday morning cartoons
He's "Hey, can I sleep in your room?"
He's bigger than the plans I had
He's making me a better man

He ain't my blood, ain't got my name
But if he did, I'd feel the same
I wasn't there for his first steps
But I ain't missed a ball game yet
And that ain't ever gonna change
I could never walk away
Yeah, he's my son and that's my choice
He ain't my blood but he's my, he's my boy
Yeah, he's my, he's my boy