You never stop being a parent.

Think about that headline for a couple of moments.

From the day you hold your newly-born son or daughter in your arms, you are a parent.  For all that that entails.

You are a parent when those first steps are taken.

You are a parent when they discover that crayons and wallpaper go together.

You are a parent on the first day of school.

You are a parent on the first day home from school.

You are a parent when they bring you a drawing that WASN’T crafted on wallpaper.

You are a parent when they receive Communion, when they read from the Torah, when they declare their faith.

You are a parent when you catch them behind the house, the menthol-tinted smoke clearly on their breath but the burning cigarette clumsily hid behind their back.

You are a parent when they bring home the report card.

You are a parent when you go to school and talk to the teachers about the report card.

You are a parent when they ride the carousel and you wave to them as they gallop by on their merry-go-round horse.

You are a parent when you try to swap out the loose tooth under their pillow with a dollar coin.

You are a parent when they build a fort in the back yard, a fort made out of an old blanket and your card table.

You are a parent when you take them fishing.  When you take them bowling.  When you take them for ice cream.  When you take them to the pediatrician.

You are a parent when you try to explain to them that mom and dad can’t live together any more, but that the love will never stop.

You are a parent when they bring home their sixth-grade classmate and tell you that they’re engaged.  You smile and ask who’s paying for the wedding, and would they like it catered at Chuck E. Cheese’s or at Guptill’s.

You are a parent when they come home, in tears, telling you that the “wedding” is off.

You are a parent when you spend all night stitching together a pirate costume because they told you that there’s a costume party for Halloween at school tomorrow.

You are a parent when you need to bury the pet gerbil in the back yard.

You are a parent when it’s time to have that talk.  Yes, that talk.

You are a parent when you find out they know more about “that talk” than you thought that they knew.

You are a parent when you tell them to change their T-shirt, because you find it offensive.  Even when they tell you that you’re too old and don’t understand that kids today wear these shirts, it’s cool.

You are a parent when they bring home their 10th grade classmate and say that they’re going steady.  You say that they’re welcome to stay for supper.  Because supper is the opportunity for you to investigate this person, to grill them on every possible question that would be invasive even for a CIA entry job…

You are a parent when they take the training wheels off their bicycle.

You are a parent when they sign up for their first intramural sports team.

You are a parent when they score their first points.

You are a parent when they cry after the opposing team scored the game-winning points against them.

You are a parent when they share something you weren’t expecting.

You are a parent, no matter what that news is.

You are a parent when they walk across the podium, when they take the tassel and move it from one side of their headgear to the other, when they take the diploma, and when they take their seat once again.

You are a parent when they say they’re moving away.

You are a parent when they call you to wish you a happy birthday.

You are a parent when they call and ask you to send some money to help them buy textbooks.

You are a parent when they tell you about their new job.

You are a parent when they bring home someone, and a diamond-ringed-finger is shown.

You are a parent when you’re putting all your differences and angers and hurts aside and, on that special day, you’re celebrating your son or daughter as they build a new family of their own.

You are a parent when they call and ask how to change a diaper, how to stop a baby from crying, how did you do it when it seems so hard.

You are a parent when they bring your grandchild over for a visit.

You are a parent when they call at 4:00 in the morning, just to talk.

You never stop being a parent.

For all the good and bad of the job, for all the triumphs and the tragedies, you continue to be a parent.

Because you have to be.  You have to be that rock, you have to be that tower of strength.

Anybody can donate sperm.  Anybody can give birth.

Trust me.  That’s the easy part.

The challenging part starts the moment you hold your son or your daughter in your arms for the first time.

Through all the triumphs, through all the tribulations, through every single moment…

Your child looks up to you.  They want applause, they want comfort, they want acknowledgment, they want protection.

And you need to know when to offer that protection, and when to offer tough-love.

Within all this…

Don’t ever forget who you are.

And don’t ever forget that responsibility.

Ever.