I see you

I see you.  I know not everyone does, but I do.  I see you stepping in and stepping up, taking on one of the worlds hardest jobs.  And I see how much it hurts you.  You go unnoticed.  You go without being given the rights you should have.  Every day there is a 'dad' who is not biologically one, who takes on that role with children who are not biologically his.  He doesnt get a thank you from the man whos children he is raising.  He isnt noticed for all the hard work he does.  For the nights he stays up checking a fever every four hours, for cleaning up the vomit, for dealing with the melt downs, the fights and the tantrums. There is no thank you for stepping in and stepping up.  For being at the events, for cooking for the birthday parties and spending money on the toys and the clothes and everything else that comes with having children.  And its not right.  Its not right that he is corrected and called stepdad.  Its not right when these children are corrected when calling him dad.  He is their father.  You are their father more so than who ever left them behind.  I see you.  I see all the hard work you do and the love you pour into them.  And they see it too.  Never forget that they see you.