Happy Father's Day — To the Dads, the Bonus Dads, and Everyone Who Shows Up

Father's Day can bring up a lot of different feelings, and a lot of different memories. For some families it is simple and joyful. For others it is complicated, tender, or quietly painful. I think all of those experiences deserve room to exist today.

For me, one of the greatest gifts of my life is getting to be Maeve's dad. I love the ordinary moments and the funny ones, the hard days and the sacred little in-between moments that add up to a whole life with your child. Being her father is the best thing I will ever do.

But I want to be honest about how I got to a place where I can say that so peacefully — because it was not always peaceful.

My co-parent and I did not have an easy separation. It was contentious. For about three years, we carried a lot of hurt, and we let our egos do a lot of the talking. Repairing our relationship — not as partners, but as parents and, eventually, as friends — took real work. It took therapy. It took a co-parenting and divorce coach. It took both of us being willing to set our pride down again and again, not for our own sake, but for our daughter's. Choosing to heal that relationship is one of the most impactful things I have ever done.

Today, my co-parent is one of my closest friends. She has built a beautiful life with a wonderful partner — a man who loves our daughter, supports her, shows up for her, and has become another steady, caring adult in Maeve's life. They have a child together, too, and he is an incredible dad. None of that takes anything away from me. It adds. Maeve simply has more people in her corner, and I am grateful for him.

Healthy co-parenting is not always easy. It takes humility. It takes choosing your child's needs over your own discomfort, fear, or old hurt. And it takes remembering something that took me a while to truly believe: love for a child is not a competition. It is not something you lose when someone else gives more of it.

When co-parenting is done with care and maturity, a child does not have to feel caught in the middle. They get to feel supported. They get more stability. They get more safe adults cheering them on, teaching them, and loving them well. That is the gift.

I see this from two sides. I lived it as a dad, and I see it every week as a family law attorney. I sit with parents in the hardest seasons of their lives, and I know how heavy the anger and the fear can be. I also know what becomes possible on the other side of it, when people are willing to do the work. That belief is a big part of why our firm offers co-parenting and divorce coaching alongside the legal work — because the law can resolve a case, but it is the healing that gives a child their family back.

Not every family looks the same. Some are blended. Some are separated. Some are co-parenting across two homes. Some include stepdads, bonus dads, grandfathers, uncles, mentors, coaches, and chosen family. What matters most is whether a child feels loved, protected, and free to receive love from everyone who is truly showing up for them.

So today, Happy Father's Day to the dads.

And to the stepdads, the bonus dads, the father figures, and the good men who love children they did not have to love — but chose to love anyway.

Our kids are better when they have more people on their team.

Happy Father's Day.

— Zach