Dad's Deep Divide

So the summer is long gone now, but I just found this article about Michael Phelps. I kept on wondering as I watched his record-setting performance this summer why only his mom and sisters were there to cheer him on, with no dad in the picture. Now I know.

How sad that this young man has records and fame, but lacks the one thing he probably wants more than anything else: the approval of his father.

"This is his world, and I'm just watching him travel through it," Fred [Phelps] told the Baltimore Sun in a 2004 interview. "People ask me how he's doing, where he's swimming next, and it's hard to say that I don't know."

Our sons may never reach this level of notoriety...but no matter what course they take , may it never be the case that we check out of their lives. It is our duty to make sure the divide does not remain.

DAD'S DEEP DIVIDE WITH SWIM KING MICHAEL PHELPS - New York Post