Two Little Followers

Years before I had kids of my own, I came across an old poem called “A Little Fellow Follows Me.” You may know it. A father realizes that a small boy is watching everything he does, and that the man he is today is the blueprint for the man his son will try to become. It is not complicated, and it is not meant to be. It just lands, and it never really left me.

Then I became a dad to a son and a daughter, and the poem stopped being an idea. It became a daily audit. Every short temper, every kept promise, every way I spoke to their mother: they were taking notes on all of it. Being the adult in the room starts at home, and the audience there is very small and very attentive.

So I turned the poem into a print, paired with a painting of a father and his son walking toward the light, something I would want on my own wall as a reminder. Plenty of dads felt the same way. The one thing missing was the other half of my house. Daughters watch their fathers just as closely, and what they learn is different: what a good man looks like, how love should treat them, and how much they are worth. “A Little Lady Follows Me” is the companion piece, written in the spirit of the original, with a father and his daughter walking hand in hand.

Here they are, side by side.

Both are physical, unframed matte prints, not digital downloads, in five square sizes from 4 x 4 to 12 x 12 inches. Frame them however suits your space. They make a good Father’s Day or birthday gift, a welcome for a brand-new dad, or a quiet note to yourself on the hallway wall.

I don’t hang mine because I have it figured out. I hang it because I don’t, and because two little people are watching to see whether I keep trying anyway.