This is a photo of my daughter Lauren and I taken by my wife Lezley at Yankee Stadium, August 9, 2015.

(Aside from being a little dark) This is the best photo ever… and let me tell you why.

This photo was never supposed to happen.

For 36 years of my life, I didn’t care about sports.  I never really played them, never watched them on TV, never followed an athlete’s career… none of that.  I would catch the occasional historic moment – but only because of the hype surrounding it.  (Cal Ripken beating Gehrig’s iron horse record comes immediately to mind).

So at the age of 36.  I started liking baseball.  The reasons behind it are well documented in the comic strip.

Baseball became something Lezley, Lauren and I could share as a family.

I never thought I would ever have a family.  I mean, I had a family– aunts, uncles, cousins… but not MY own family.  Never thought I would be a father… nor did I want to be one considering the man my father was/is.  My first wife didn’t want kids, so it was a perfect fit in that sense.  It was what it was.

But then, Lezley and Lauren came into my life and swept me out of my boots.  Love is amazing.  Love is scary as hell.  I knew Lezley had a daughter when we began seeing each other… Lez and I were good friends before we became a “we”.  “We” included Lauren.  Always did.  Always would.

Having no real experience in being a “parent” I did the best I could.  I was (and will always be) determined to give Lauren the grounding and knowledge that a father needs to give… even though I still have no clue what that is.  Scary. Amazing.

On the day this photo was taken, Lauren and I were just walking to our seats.  Typically when we walk together, Lauren will grab my hand or I will put my arm around her shoulder.  It’s just something that we do.  We don’t think about it.  Lezley said she didn’t know what made her snap the image with her iPhone, she just did it.  She’s seen us do this dozens of times. It wasn’t posed.  She didn’t warn us.  In fact, I didn’t even see the image until she tagged me in it on Facebook… funny, I saw it there even though I was sitting three feet away from the photographer!

It was just Lauren and I being Lauren and I.  A moment that we share whether we’re at Yankee Stadium or getting ice cream at Nicky Doodles.  It was a father and daughter.

If the Frank from 9 years ago saw this photo, he wouldn’t know who he was looking at.

I wasn’t supposed to be a baseball fan.
I wasn’t supposed to be at Yankee Stadium.
I wasn’t supposed to be wearing a Joe DiMaggio jersey.
I wasn’t supposed to have a family.
I wasn’t supposed to be a father.
I wasn’t supposed to love my life.
I wasn’t supposed to be in love.
I wasn’t supposed to be in this picture.
I wasn’t supposed to love the picture I was in.

This photo summarizes everything I am right now. Today.  No squirrels.  No cartoons.
A father.  A husband.  A good man.

And that’s why it’s the best photo ever.