I definitely feel this.

My dad felt distant and uninterested, when I was a kid. It's only with time and experience, as a father myself, that I understand him. He wasn't distant, he was stretched thin, exhausted. He kept the ground under me stable, and the skies above clear. All the while, his foundations were crumbling at the edges and fire rained down on us from above. He was both a shield and a foundation to me, and he never once complained about it. I rarely saw a hint of the strain he was under. I took and took, and complained when he didn't have more.

The foundation he gave me made me stronger. As a father, the ground I can offer is more solid. The skies shielded more, all standing on the foundation he clawed together. My hope is my child doesn't understand this till they approach adulthood either. I just need to give even more of myself into giving them the emotional support they need too. My child takes and takes, and I give happily. I fill their life with love and happiness the best I can, almost irrelevant of the cost to me.

It stretches me thin too, but that's the job I agreed too. I can easily see how other dads can mess it up. Even from a place of love.

Sorry, I might have gotten a bit more emotional than intended.