The Joy of Fatherhood

✦ Australia celebrates Father's Day on Sunday 5th September

Similar to joyous occasions such as Christmas and the celebration of one’s birthday, Father’s Day comes around but once a year. It is a day where we all pay our respects and appreciation, where families all across Australia place their patriarch front and centre for the day and show how much he means to them. It’s Dad’s “day off” where he can put his feet up, crack a beer, watch the footie and relax!

Celebrating Father's day across borders despite lockdowns

This year things have been different. The ever-increasing slew of restrictions courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic have meant many families have been unable to connect in person as lockdown regulations take hold nationwide.

Queensland shut its border to neighbouring New South Wales (NSW) in July after a wave of COVID cases in Sydney and that means many families were separated.

Australian families separated by state border closures celebrated Father's Day with hugs and emotional greetings across barricades. Scenes on Sunday from Coolangatta, a border suburb, showed the emotional impact on families kept apart. Dozens of people lined the boundary, which runs through the middle of town. Police crews guarding the border didn't stop people from embracing but handed out masks to those gathered. Images from various media sources and social media showed mothers handing babies to fathers across the barrier, and many people leaning over for teary embraces.

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These scenes have simultaneously enhanced its significance and relevance and made all of us appreciate what is important in life: family and loved ones.

Brilliant-online applauds fathers the world over and was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to catch up with one local Dad to get his take on being a father and the value of family in general.

‘Unconditional love’

Steve Brbich is the the Creative Content Director at local media production company Silver Quinn Productions. The company have a proven track record of not only capturing the key moments in our lives such as weddings but transporting them to an altogether different level through their meticulous approach to the job, something that a satisfied roster of clients can happily attest to. For someone so adept at capturing special occasions, we thought Steve was the perfect person to talk with about family life and the role of fatherhood.

Close up kiss of Cora and Steve Brbich

“What I love most about being a father is that you have created a little person who is not just your blood but has traits of your personality and is dependent on you for their future,” Steve beamed when asked what it means to be a father.

“Being a father to me means that I will provide unconditional love, no matter what,” he added. “A father will accept and understand if their special little person comes to them and tells us their deepest concerns. It is so important to me to be able to inspire my daughter to be kind, creative, mindful and most of all appreciate the simple things in life that provide the greatest joy. For me, most of all I want to see my daughter as a happy and confident person. This is what it means to be a father.”

Schnoodle!

Steve and his wife Emma have been married for over five years and their daughter, Cora, is just about to turn four. Previously based in Sydney, they now call Port Macquarie home. Merlo, the cross-breed Schnauzer/Poodle known as a Schnnodle, is the fourth member of the family who joined a year before Cora was born.

Emma, Cora and Steve Brbich Family

“We are a close knit team and love our outdoor adventures,” Steve comments. “You will often find us at the beach, playing in the park or cooking up a storm!”

Born and bred in New Zealand, Steve moved to Sydney to work in the Celebrity Security Industry, working aross the city and suburbs at known locations such as Fox Studios, Westfield Shopping Centres, Queen Victoria Building and Barangaroo International Towers. Steve and Emma met and were married at Cassegrain Winery. Shortly afterwards Cora came along, which is when they decided to move to Emma’s hometown of Port Macquarie, where her mother Jennifer still lives.

This provided a fantastic support network of friends and family locally, and having Nanna Jenn nearby is a considerable help with helping Steve and Emma balance the work-life dynamic.

“Our family works together really well and we have Nanna Jenn just around the corner,” said Steve. “Cora goes to Childcare from Monday to Thursday and on Fridays myself and Emma share looking after her while she works, or I have projects.”

Balance

Finding the right balance and being organised is crucial, says Steve. As much of his business focuses on the wedding industry he is often working Saturdays with shoots. If the job takes him further afield, the family will often make a weekend trip out of the occasion.

“We are super organised and have our weeks planned out to ensure that we can maximise our time together as a family, while maintaining a productive approach to our work and exercise. It is a juggling act and some days it is a total disaster, but for the most part we are cracking through our goals and having a lot of fun along the way,” Steve said with a smile.

As an active family, one of the great benefits of now calling Port Macquarie home is the ease of being able to get out and about into the great outdoors with frequent trips to nearby beaches such as Nobbys and Lighthouse beach one of their favourite past times - something family pooch Merlo loves too!

Cora and Steve Brbich outdoors

Steve and family at the beach

‘Life choices’

As alluded to at the outset, COVID-19 has impacted us all and Steve and his family are no different.

“I have had clients and projects either cancelled or postponed until after the lockdowns are lifted as I am not an essential worker so I am unable to organise photo or video shoots directly,” laments Steve.

“Emma works in Human Resources as the Chief People and Culture Officer for an international IT consultancy, so you can only imagine the workload and the additional support that has been required when working with employees across multiple countries,” he adds.

Hopefully positive progress can be made and lockdown restrictions can be lifted soon, enabling us all to revert to normality. However, one of the major plus points of the lockdown has meant spending more time with family, something so central to Steve.

We conclude our chat with a question: If you could wish for one thing for your daughter’s future what would that be?

Steve and Cora Brbich, Loving it

“Health and Safety is the number one priority,” Steve replies. “But as a creative person personally, I just wish for her to go with what she loves to do, what she is truly passionate about. I just want her to be happy with her life choices and will support her with those choices.

“Above all else, my wife and I just want our daughter to express kindness, find happiness in each of her days and create experiences that will bring herself joy and create opportunity.”

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