BONUS Eric's Story: The Transformative Power of Fatherhood

In this bonus episode, you'll hear my conversation with Eric Marsh Sr. who shares his transformative journey through fatherhood, reflecting on the challenges of being a single father and the importance of support systems. His story emphasizes the vital need for empathy, emotional connection, and community among fathers. His story should inspire us all. Check out Eric's Story: The Transformative Power of Fatherhood, episode.

Contact Eric: https://about.me/ericmarshsr
Email: info@thefatheringcircle.com
Instagram: @thefatheringcircle
Facebook: @thefatheringcircle.com

Chapters

• 0:02 The Transformative Power of Fatherhood
• 13:33 Navigating Parenting and Past Relationships
• 16:57 The Impact of Fatherhood and Healing
• 27:14 Navigating New Fatherhood and Nonprofit Work

Transcript

Bill Simpson: 0:02

Hi and welcome to the Men on the Path to Love podcast bonus episode Eric's story the transformative power of fatherhood. I'm Bill Simpson, your host. I coach men who want to stop suffering in relationship and who want a deeper sense of love and connection. I coach him how to do it and how to be the best version of himself for himself and for his current or future relationship, to live the life he loves.

Bill Simpson: 0:32

In this bonus episode, you'll hear my conversation with Eric Marsh Sr, who has been actively helping individuals, families and communities flourish for over 20 years. He's been heavily involved in numerous organizations to help fathers and men's personal growth in Philadelphia and beyond. He is currently the co-founder and executive director of the Fathering Circle, a peer support organization that helps fathers build better relationships with their children, parenting partners, families and communities. And what's most important to Eric is that he or two about fatherhood. He tells his amazing story of the transformative power fatherhood has had on his life. Stay with me. It's the Men on the Path to Love podcast. Welcome, eric, to Men on the Path to Love.

Eric Marsh: 1:30

Bill, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Bill Simpson: 1:32

Yeah, man, you've got quite a story. We've talked a little bit and you shared a little bit, and I'd like for you to share your story, your journey with us as we are on this path to love yeah thank you for that.

Eric Marsh: 1:48

Thank you for asking. It is quite a story, but I'm a firm believer that we all have very interesting stories. Mine in particular centers around fatherhood, both my role as a father and my relationship with my fathers. And so where to start? I guess I'll start with where I became a father.

Eric Marsh: 2:11

I mean, I was one of those kids that I naturally attracted all the younger kids in the neighborhood when we were playing. I'm the youngest of four boys and so that may have something to do with it. But just in the neighborhood I was always playing with or being like the older mentor to kids in the neighborhood. And as I got older, believe it or not, for some reason in my late teens I was thinking about fatherhood. I actually dated a young lady, by the time I was 19, who had two children, and it was a natural fit. It wasn't anything outward to me, it was a really good opportunity for me to spend time with the kids and us, to kind of build that muscle in parenting. And you know, over time, eventually I actually have an older daughter, someone who I say adopted me. It's my oldest daughter Sierra.

Bill Simpson: 3:05

She chose you, huh.

Eric Marsh: 3:06

She chose me. She chose me. Her biological father is still around, still in her life, but we were able to develop a bond from the time she was two years old up until now. She's 35 now, which is amazing, and we still talk every week, have a great relationship. It's awesome. They grow up fast, don't they? Oh man, the time has absolutely flown by.

Eric Marsh: 3:32

In addition to that, I have my oldest son, eric Jr, and my parenting journey really takes a turn there because I became a single father. I got full custody of my son when he was about two years old, so in the late 90s, and at that time it was unusual for single fathers, especially young single Black fathers, to get sole legal and physical custody. We were in and out in court 15, 20 minutes max, and I think it was because he understood my son was already with me. We went through an issue where there was a DHS investigation in the home of his mom and they just felt like it was best with me and so, starting off in that position as a young man with a young boy, thank God my mother was available. My mother was a great help in his support and raising my oldest son, eric Jr.

Eric Marsh: 4:32

At this point, he's 29. He's a phenomenal human being. I mean just the most loving, caring, gracious, kid young man. As a matter of fact, not even a kid, he's a full grown man. Always a kid to you, though, right, that's always going to be the case. My baby boy served time in the Air Force overseas, so I'm really proud of the amount of time he was able to serve, and he's a caretaker. He's taking care of his grandmother and his grand uncle right now. It's something in his DNA and just in terms of being a loving, kind giving human being, and so yeah, some of that DNA comes from you, right, so I tell folks at least 50% of it.

Eric Marsh: 5:13

There you go.

Bill Simpson: 5:15

So what were some of the challenges you had as a single dad raising Eric Jr?

Eric Marsh: 5:22

Well, I think the first thing that starts off with just employment, just being employed, a 20-something-year-old dad with a kid. We hear all these stories in terms of single moms and what they have to struggle with, and it was no different for me except for that society looked at me differently as a single father. A lot of people offered praise and compliments. It's like, oh, it's a wonderful thing, and yet there wasn't a lot of programs or social service agencies out there. I remember I was a nursing assistant for a while before I left that and I actually wound up getting on public assistance just to make sure that my son had medical insurance and some coverage and things like that, and that was a difficult road. I don't know if it was any more difficult than what single moms have to deal with, but I know that a lot of the programs I came across were for moms. You know WIC was Women, infants and Children. Yeah, it was a bit of an uphill battle.

Eric Marsh: 6:22

I think I wound up enrolling in a job readiness program, a workforce development program, and I'll never forget Kenetic Kendra was our facilitator. She did this little mnemonic thing where we get to remember people's names. Funny enough, 20 something years later I only remember her name. But yeah, I was one of probably two or three men in a program of 20 something women. Interestingly enough, in that program there was a woman at the Carpenters Apprenticeship Program. I was there. We were going through an exercise in terms of what we wanted to do, what we were good at and I was always good with my hands.

Eric Marsh: 7:02

I tell people all the time I grew up in a household with four boys. My mother's motto was if you break it, you got to fix it. So I learned to fix stuff. There you go. And so one of the women in the program told me about an apprenticeship program that was getting ready for the Carpenters Apprenticeship Test, and I asked permission if I could leave early to make it up the street before they closed.

Eric Marsh: 7:25

I got there, they were on their last week. It was an eight-week program and they said listen, this is eight weeks. These guys have been here studying all this time. You just walk in the door. I said just please, where do I put my name down for the test? And so they let me put my name down. And two weeks later I went up to State Road to the carpenter's facility, took the test and passed. Wow, I was fortunate enough to get into the union and worked as a carpenter for many years before I started my own construction business. I say all of that to say I wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't have been on that path if it wasn't for this grind of trying to actually find support for myself as a father and support for my son. That was the impetus behind it all and the blessing in disguise.

Bill Simpson: 8:12

Yeah, you know, I was thinking about when I was a single dad and one of the challenges I had was socializing my daughter, like at the playground at the elementary school and they're all moms sitting around and I'm the only guy there and it was that strange dynamic of I'm not coming on to you, I just, you know, I'm trying to make friends here, you know what I mean.

Bill Simpson: 8:36

And it would be such awkward moments where, where moms they just start talking and they become friends and they share numbers and they you know the kids have play dates. That was a challenge for me as a man.

Eric Marsh: 8:46

Yeah, same here sitting in a playground, especially when it would be like your kid is on the other side of the playground and you're sitting on the bench just kind of looking at random kids, right? No, and obviously you know. Unfortunately we live in a world where that there are some creepy folks that do that, but you know not as much as portrayed on TV, and so it's weird when you're in that position and people are looking at you. So to be a single dad, you've got to have thick skin, you've got to figure it out in a way that again, not to discredit anything that single moms go through, but it's just a different.

Eric Marsh: 9:22

Outside of my oldest son, eric Jr, and I talked about my daughter, sarah, I also was recently married and I have two teenagers now. So my teenagers, aaron and Amaya, are 14 and 15. And that phase of life I became a father again after 40. And so at that time, my son Eric Jr he was in his teens. I thought I was free and you're done. And then, yeah, married young lady I grew up with, she had a daughter, I had a son, and we wound up having a son and a daughter together and have taken me on a whole new journey of fatherhood in ways that I never experienced prior, so it's constantly learning experience.

Bill Simpson: 10:17

Yeah, yeah, I look back to a similar blended family situation where my daughter's mother had four kids and we had a daughter together and the challenges of being a stepdad and the learning that I had in that situation was I tried too hard to be the dad right Because the dads weren't around. So I tried to fill that void and with a family of five, I grew up in a family of five and I think there was a part of me that wanted that large family, you know, and so I was trying to be the dad for everybody and unfortunately, the marriage ended and like that was the hard part, like I took that dad role and all of a sudden dad's not there anymore. And it's not that I, you know, abandoned them and we still, you know, maintain communications and things like that. But it was the risk I took and diving full tilt into dad versus like the uncle, you know, being more of an uncle, uncle role versus I'm dad, because there's no way I could be the dad right.

Eric Marsh: 11:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's another reason why I'm very mindful to use the phrase father figure my daughter, god bless her. You know, like I said, her biological dad is around, but she will call me dad and she tells her family and friends, no, that's my dad, but that was more of a result of the broken relationship between her and her biological dad and his acts on his side. I think, in your case, I think you were right in every aspect for taking on that role, right, because nobody goes into a marriage or goes into having children expecting it to end or planning for it to end right you go in with the best of intentions and the best of hopes, and my only hope would be you know, it really depends on what the relationship and how do the children process it and accept you.

Bill Simpson: 12:10

You know, yeah and anyway, it was more of a hindsight observation of, wow, I could have been there more as a father figure than actually trying to be the dad. And I don't think it was a conscious decision to be the dad. It's just I'm kind of like you, it's like a natural nurturer and somebody that just you know, wants to help kids and take care of them. So it's just more of a hindsight observation and then when I'm advising guys who are in a blended relationship is to be mindful of that.

Eric Marsh: 12:40

Now, how would you describe that? What did it look like? Were you taking on the role of the Dad?

Bill Simpson: 12:46

I was physically there and emotionally there as well. There were two boys and two girls and my wife pretty much took care of the girls. I was more of the father dad figure for the boys, but collectively as well. So you know, I just took on that role. I'd be at the football game. My son got injured and I'm running down off the field and you know he's this dark skinned, black kid and I'm this white guy coming down the field. He goes. That's my dad. You know what, what's wrong with this picture? But I was just there, just there, and what I would have done for my own kid, I would have done for them.

Eric Marsh: 13:24

And that's it. That's what matters, that's being a dad, that's what the relationship is about and that's what the children remember in the long run. The thing about relationships and marriage and blended families the adults are going to adult, like whatever happens between the adults. And, in full transparency, I'll just say you know my, my ex wife, my wife and I divorced in 2020. In fact, no, 2021, I get to get mixed up, but you know. But we have been separated since 20, maybe 2016, the end of 2016, but we were, you know, co-parenting reasonably well and it was just lingered on for a while and we had known each other since we were teenagers. And and now, in 2025, we're going through custody and child support court Wow, after knowing each other for the better part of 40 years. And so I'll just say again you know what the parents go through, what they deal with, what they agree or what they disagree on parenting a child.

Eric Marsh: 14:32

It takes precedent, it is its own thing. I don't know, maybe it doesn't take precedence because, again, if the relationship isn't healthy, it's not going to work out and everybody's going to fall apart. But the relationship with the children is its own thing and it should be treated as such. And each child. Your relationship with each child is individually its own thing. I have a stepdaughter from my previous marriage. We have an amicable relationship, or at least we did for a while. I haven't seen her in quite a while and, honestly, as a father, that is heartbreak. That's the hard part is when you build the bond with these children that may not be yours biologically or you may not have a legal custody or visitation with and, and the relationship is just gone right. Yeah, so I know that is a.

Bill Simpson: 15:21

That is a pain that we have to figure out how to manage absolutely and tell me a little bit about how you were with your dad, like how was your relationship with your father, you know, in regards to where you are now as a dad what kind of? Influence. Did he have or not have?

Eric Marsh: 15:38

You know what's interesting? I usually talk to people about parenting and I'll tell them we parent one of two ways. We either parent exactly like we were parented or we parent 180 degrees in the other direction, like I'm not going to do that. And so a lot of my parenting is not averse to what happened with my father. My father wasn't there.

Eric Marsh: 16:00

I mean, I have memories of my father. My father would frequently call. My father suffered from alcoholism, and so many of the calls that I took from him were sort of liquid courage induced. You know, you know I love you, right, that kind of thing. The best thing I would say that came out of those calls was my mother never talked bad about my father, even though he wasn't there, even though he was struggling with his own demons and whatnot. I would get off the phone and she'd say you good, how are you doing you? Okay, all right, go outside and play or go, do you know? And just kind of encourage me to go on about my life. And so later on, you know I do have a memory of going on vacation with my father. In fact, I have a picture of me and my brothers and a big yellow Lincoln. I think it was back in the 70s on our way to Six Flags.

Eric Marsh: 16:52

Great adventure is one little snapshot in time 70s, on our way to Six Flags Great Adventure. Just one little snapshot in time. And then, later on, my father, when I was probably in my late teens, right before I turned 20, introduced me to my brother and sister that I didn't know I had. Oh, wow, what was that like? Oh, my god it's. First of all, they were only a mile or two from my house, which blew my mind like yeah, it was very like almost within walking distance, where they lived. Again, both of them were older than me by about eight and ten years respectively. When I walked in the door, obviously he had talked to them and they had had a conversation, so they were expecting us. But when my sister and brother opened the door, I got the most heartfelt, warm greeting. My sister was the most beautiful person. Just, she immediately was like oh, baby brother, you know, hug me and everything. And my brother was very stoic. You know he was in the bodybuilding at times, so he was just like real kind of stiff looking guy. But you know he greeted me. We had a good time.

Eric Marsh: 18:00

What I noticed was my brother really resented my father. He really there was like deep animosity there. What was that about? What it was about was because, again, they were older than me, right? So he was married and with them and raising them, before his marriage dissolved and he left and then again, similar to what you described divorce, separation and then I come along afterwards from a new relationship and, to my brother's credit, I don't think any of the animosity was towards me. We eventually talked, many years later as a matter of fact, in 2020, when my sister passed away. We talked and I feel like some of it was because I looked so much like my father and he looks very different than our father. So I think the physical resemblance may be, you know, triggered or something on top of it. You know, I think there was a difference. Going back to my mother's reaction, my brother would share with me that. You know his mother had no qualms talking bad about our dad, or sharing you, or sharing just her opinion, even if they were just around, just talking bad out loud where the kids could hear it, and so I always use that as a lesson where there's.

Eric Marsh: 19:18

Again, this is almost like a social science experiment. You can see these two kids, two separate households, same father, two totally different relationships and, more important to your question about how did it impact our parenting. I think my brother really struggled as a father being present, being loving, being there, knowing how to show up and be there consistently. He's now a great dad. By the way, I mean therapy is a wonderful thing. Time he's now a great dad, by the way, I mean therapy is a wonderful thing. Time you know being active and working on your own healing. He's a phenomenal dad. He lives in California now. He's doing a lot of good work with men in very similar work in terms of counseling and coaching, definitely has healed a lot of old wounds.

Eric Marsh: 20:06

And so, again, when it comes to how I was raising my son with Eric Jr, I realized that, you know, being a single dad, not having the experience of living with my dad, I was very intentional about giving my son the things that I thought I missed when I was growing up, and so I would make sure that he was on vacations and, you know, great gifts and Christmas, and I tell folks all the time, when I was growing up, I wanted to learn how to play chess. My brothers played chess. They did not teach me. I'm going to hold it against them forever. So I taught myself how to play chess in order to teach my son how to play chess, and I think around the time he was probably, I want to say, 15 or 16, he started beating me regularly. That was a wrap.

Eric Marsh: 20:57

After that I gave, I gave up. I haven't played chess since. That'll teach you, right, I mean. But in my mind it was mission accomplished, right, like I'm going to. He's good enough to beat me. My job done, you did it. I don't need to play another game another day. Yeah, so we also used to play video games together, and then we also had to stop that too, because he's a. He's a trash talker and I'm a bit of a not quite a sore loser, but definitely don't enjoy losing you weren't trying to hear all that I ain't trying to hear all that, so that's funny.

Bill Simpson: 21:29

So, wow, man, what a great journey you've been on. And now you're working with fathers, you're working with men's organizations. Tell us how you got involved with all that and how some other men could get involved.

Eric Marsh: 21:41

Well again, you know my journey goes back with Eric Jr Raising my son, looking for support, looking for services. I used to have a house in North Philadelphia and I was bringing him home. One day after school I came up on the porch and there was a pamphlet for a community education program and in it there was a listing for a program called Frontline Dads, reuben Jones. It was his first year leading this program on Temple's campus for the PASEP program, and I saw fatherhood. I think I flipped through the book and landed on a page that had fatherhood. That's how divine it felt in terms of coming across this program, and so I attended. I was a participant that immersed me in a whole world of the Pan African Studies program. For anybody that's familiar with it, you know it's nicknamed the Timbuktu of North Philadelphia and so that opened me up to community work, volunteerism, rites of passage, programs with Brother Yumi and the Fratour Heru Institute, and from there I met with Joel Austin and Daddy University, worked with Daddy University for a while and, as I said, I was a construction general contractor, owner and operator, and I ran my business for several years until 2017 shut down my business, and I was looking for something and was in a deep depression because my wife and I had separated.

Eric Marsh: 23:09

We had lost our home. I had moved back into my mother's home, was sleeping in the same bedroom that I was when I was a teenager, trying to figure out how to put my life together, and my wife would drop off the kids in the morning because they still went to school in the neighborhood where I was at school in the neighborhood where I was at, and over the course of a few weeks, my daughter, I would get out of the bed in my room, my blackened room, with the room, darkening curtains and my head under the cover.

Eric Marsh: 23:39

Get out of bed, pick them up from the bus stop, take them home, feed them breakfast, walk them to school, take them to the front door, have a good day. I would go back home, get into bed my head under the covers and stay in my depression. And one day my daughter, when we got to the building, she said daddy, can you walk us inside? And so I took them inside into the lobby and then I would drop them off with the teachers in the lobby. And then, a few days or a week later, then it progressed and she said daddy, can you walk us into the lunchroom? I get in the lunchroom and I see a couple of dads standing around very pensive back against the wall. Anybody that's been to an elementary school lunchroom knows how insane it is.

Eric Marsh: 24:19

Bill Simpson: Yes

Eric Marsh: 24:19

Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about..

Eric Marsh: 24:20

Eric Marsh:

Eric Marsh: 24:21

So it's every man for yourself when you walk in the door. And then one day my daughter asked me to come sit down at the table with them. And I got a chance to sit down with them, listening to them banter with their classmates and their friends, and I got a tap on the shoulder and this was a life-changing experience. I got a tap on the shoulder and I turn around and this real little dark-skinned kid, little boy standing there, just as cute as he want to be, couldn't have been more than a kindergartner, maybe first grade at the most, but it was a little kid standing there and out of all the men in the room, all the people in the room, he walked up to me and he said can you read this to me? And he had a Lego Batman book and at the time I'm telling you I don't know if you ever remember when the Lego movie came out so I was like, oh, this is my thing, I'm looking forward to this.

Eric Marsh: 25:17

So I took the book and you know what we do as fathers, you know you can do the voices you start very animated and I just got into it. I'm reading this story to him with all the characters I could possibly think of in my head, all the voices I can possibly come up with, and by the time we get to the end of the book, I close the book and I go to hand it back to him and there's at least a dozen kids standing around the table and other kids with books and they go. Can you read mine next? Can you read mine next? And, unfortunately, like the bell rang and it was time for class to start and all the kids, oh, it's upset. And I was just sitting there On cloud nine, I really felt like, for the first time, my depression had lifted. I was, you know, I didn't feel heavy like I had done for months prior, and purpose man it was. It was, yes, my kids showed me my purpose

Eric Marsh: 26:14

.

Eric Marsh: 26:15

I walked out of that building lighter than ever and I think the principal, who was also an African-American man than ever, and I think the principal, who was also an African-American man, a young guy as a matter of fact, stopped me one day and he was like hey, would you be interested in, like, if I could just like tell people like you're the lunchroom coordinator, like you're the head of like? He gave me some arbitrary title Because, remember, I had closed my business, I'm out of work at this point and so I'm showing up every morning and I'm just grateful that he and some of the other women who were there, some of the moms who had grew up in that neighborhood and their kids were going to their school, took me under their wing and really got me really well positioned in terms of playing a leadership role with the parents, and so I started hosting Donuts for Dad, conversations with dads in the mornings, and you know, it was eventually time for me to go back to work and I remember thinking to myself like what am I going to do? I've been in construction for almost 20 years, ran my business for 10. And that moment left such an impression. I remember I went home and I Google searched fatherhood jobs and I came across a program called Focus on Fathers and submitted an application to them.

Eric Marsh: 27:34

And the other part I want to share with you. You talked about the work that I do. I have a nonprofit called the Fathering Circle. I was introduced to my co-founders, billy and Les.

Eric Marsh: 27:45

My sister, who was still alive at the time, was working on a project called Philadelphia Assembled.

Eric Marsh: 27:50

It was an art as social justice project and the lead artist, jana van Eswijk, who was Dutch, decided that fatherhood should be a topic of conversation.

Eric Marsh: 28:02

So they were looking around, they were trying to figure out, and Billy was the lead artist on this project former professor at Temple Tyler School of Art, visual artist, dance artist Met a guy named Les Rivera who was a filmmaker and they got it in their heads. They were going to interview some dads and record them and then go make some art, and I was introduced to them by my sister and we just started this process of interviewing dads about what is it like being a father? Where did you learn to be a father? What was it like for you and your relationship with your dad, and what we found while we were having these deep conversations with these fathers, many of them who were brand new fathers, many of them well-experienced, a couple were actually grandfathers. We got into these conversations and none of the dads wanted to go home at night. The conversation would be over, we'd stop the recording and people would still be talking, because we found that nobody had asked these dads how they felt about being fathers.

Bill Simpson: 29:03

It's like they were starving for that support.

Eric Marsh: 29:06

Yes, yes, that kind of query about who are you, what do you love about this role and what are some of the things you struggle with. What was it like for you growing up as a boy? What was your relationship with little girls like when you were growing up? Those are the kind of questions that we ask, and so I, coming from a background of supporting all those other fatherhood programs that I had mentioned to you, I saw what was happening and I think, my colleagues they were supportive, but they were artists. They were like we're doing a project, we're going to make this art, and then we're on to the next thing. And I never forget. I made the decision. I sat down on my computer at home and made my own business cards and they were like what do you need business cards for? Like we've already talked to all the dads we need to talk to and we're going to go and do this thing. I said, yeah, but there's something else here, and so, fast forward.

Eric Marsh: 30:05

When I go to this job interview with Focus on Fathers, I meet a guy named Larry Woody and I interview with him. We have great conversation and as I'm wrapping up the interview, I'm getting ready to leave. He said you know what it's bugging me, but I know your name from somewhere. I don't know why I would know your name and I'm like I've been working in construction 20 years. I don't know how you would possibly know my name. So I get a call back for a second interview and it's him and his supervisor, the department head, and we walk in the room and he says I figured it out. He's like I know where I know your name from. He says I've had your business card on my desk for the last two months. Wow.

Eric Marsh: 30:43

Another friend of mine, a guy who runs another program, gave me your card and said you should look into the work that they're doing. He said that's how I know your name. Wow, I like to say the business card helped get me in that position, yeah, position. And so I wound up working for Focus on Fathers as their first outreach coordinator for the program, helping them bring in more participants and locations. And since then the fathering circle has gone on to become an official 501c3 organization, I'm happy to say. Well-received in a lot of different locations and we're going to be launching our programs again. Well-received in a lot of different locations and we're going to be launching our programs again starting in the beginning of February 2025.

Bill Simpson: 31:29

So Great. Well, you know we're both located in Philadelphia and the podcast is all over the world. Man, helsinki and you know Finland, you know, like all different countries, in all parts of the country. Is there any way anyone could get in touch with that they could participate in this and from a virtual perspective?

Eric Marsh: 31:46

Absolutely, absolutely. So we're not hosting virtual sessions yet, just simply because of the personal nature of a lot of the stories that a lot of fathers are sharing. But we do do gatherings on social media. So you can find us on Instagram at the fathering circle fathering with an ING you can also find us. We have a group and a page on Facebook same handle the fathering circle. I just recently started a WhatsApp group for the fathering circle so to talk about that global reach, we're able to meet with men from all different parts of the world through our WhatsApp.

Bill Simpson: 32:23

I'll have all that information in my show notes. So folks who want that, it's in my show notes.

Eric Marsh: 32:29

I appreciate that, yeah, so lots of different ways that guys can connect.

Bill Simpson: 32:32

That's awesome man. Well, eric, I appreciate you just sharing your soul with me today and with us in terms of your passion for fatherhood, and you know your story is amazing it really is and I really commend you, you know, for the dad that you are and the love that you've shared with other fathers in the area. Man, it's so needed and I just want to commend you for your work.

Eric Marsh: 32:56

Bill, I appreciate you, I appreciate the work that you do. You know one of the things that brought us together we were talking about the challenges of men being able to express themselves fully, to really show up with empathy and kindness and love and tenderness Right, and so I just admire you and the work that you're doing to help broaden that emotional range that men are allowed to tap into and that women are able to understand that we're full human beings, capable of accessing all the emotions that they are, and we want to learn how to do it in a more healthy way, and so I thank you for the work that you're doing, helping men do that.

Bill Simpson: 33:33

Sure man, and we all need it. So thank you so much, man. Any last words you want to say before we wrap things up here?

Eric Marsh: 33:41

You know, I think what I just shared, like this idea of men being allowed to be fully human, to be able to express the broadest range of emotions, but also understanding that part of what it means to be a man is to also be balanced, like to have that balance of strength and tenderness. Absolutely, you can't always be a disciplinarian from the typical way that most thinks of discipline in terms of, like, physical punishment. It's also about structure, about guidelines, about understanding how to guide children to be their better selves, and I'm hoping to help men you know have that same discipline with themselves so that they can be better fathers.

Bill Simpson: 34:22

B ill Simpson"

Eric Marsh: 34:22

Yeah .

Eric Marsh: 34:46

Eric Marsh: Guest exactly

Eric Marsh: 34:22

Exactly, standards and values and all

Eric Marsh: 34:49

Bill Simpson: Host Well stuff

Eric Marsh: 34:25

Well, goes along with it, and you know, and it's not taking away their .,

Eric Marsh: 34:54

Absolutely, I'm here for it. as B

Eric Marsh: 34:33

a human being, as you said, you know, adding those more traditionally quote, unquote feminine qualities, you know of empathy, compassion, that kind of thing. It's just adding to the masculinity and making us a better person, exactly, and that's the goal. Well, thanks so much, man. I appreciate our time and let's stay in touch, absolutely, I'm here for it.

Eric Marsh: 34:54

Thanks a lot.

Bill Simpson: 34:58

And that will bring this bonus episode of the Men on the Path to Love podcast to a close. Eric's story the transformative power of fatherhood. I'm Bill Simpson, your host. Once again, big thanks to my guest, eric Marsh Sr. And if you'd like to know about the programs Eric is involved with or would like to contact him, his info is in the show notes. Would like to contact him? His info is in the show notes. Now coming up on the next episode of the Men on the Path to Love podcast, you'll hear Xavier's story and how setting boundaries transformed his relationship and his life. Please join me for the Art of Setting Boundaries Protecting Yourself Without Losing Connection episode. And if you think it's a good idea to spread more love in the world, then I strongly encourage you to share the link to this podcast and share the love. And until next time, keep your heart open and stay on the path to love.