The relationship between father and son is both simple and complex. Simple in that a father remembers the things he learned as a boy and passes them on to his sons. Complex in that it is filled with quiet hugs and laughter, the comfort of familiarity and the adventure of discovery, and the creation of a history from which they both may draw strength and wisdom.
Today Gregory Lang remembers his dad as someone he worshiped as a child, disfavored as a teenager, and now deeply admires. "On my mantle, next to a high school portrait of my mom and amid many photographs of my daughter," he writes, "sits a picture of my dad and me our front yard. He is squatting down, his arms wrapped around me as I stand between his knees. Sometimes I stand before this mantle and look at those photographs and realize how blessed I am." Now that he is a father himself, Lang realizes that being a dad is the greatest challenge and reward a man can have.