Then I met your mother. A couple of years went by and soon our little girl, Miah, arrived in our lives.
I was the one who delivered you, the first one to hold you. As soon as I saw you, it was like being struck by a lightning bolt of pure love.
The moment you were born, so too was my purpose in life. It wasn't to live for work or to focus on what other people said or thought of me, it was to focus on you, and to embrace life with absolute joy.
For me, that is the joy of being a father. A year ago, Bowen, our boy, was born and I was, again, blessed with the chance to deliver my child into this world. The pride I felt nearly burst my heart. The prophecy was complete.
Becoming a father opened my eyes to what really matters in life.
You, my children, are the most important part of me, of who I am today.
Thanks to you, and your Mum, everything in my life just gets better and better and all of my dreams are coming true. You are my success.
If there's any advice I can give you from all of this, it's to do what makes you happy, what makes you proud, and to listen to what your heart truly wants.
Much love, Daddy xx
Former All Black Bull Allen
To my wonderfully amazing children, Sarah, 26, Luke, 19, Thomas, 17, Molly, 12, and James, 10.
To say that I love you all would be the biggest understatement I could make. Just having you in my life lifts me up every day and humbles me too, if I'm not careful.
In this crazy, busy world that we live in you help me put things into perspective. A bad day soon turns good when I get to see and spend time with you.
You will never know how much time I spend praying and wishing good things for you in your lives.
I wish I could spend more time with you but I have to balance that with the time spent earning money for your food, clothing and rugby boots.
Every moment with you guys is better than every moment I'm away from my precious, beautiful children.
Trying to be the best dad I can be means I need to be the best husband possible, which is not a bad thing to aspire to.
It's a good thing Mum doesn't get to make a comment here, but what can I say? I am a work in progress.
I couldn't imagine life without my beautiful, amazing family who I just can't get enough of.
I am so blessed to have you.
Love you
Cartoonist Peter Bromhead
Firstly, I must apologise to you both that this brief note is not reduced into text talk and the communication is via newsprint rather than on a PDA device.
Photo / Michael Craig
I also apologise that the subject matter is not Minecraft, The Lego Movie, Vampires, Slenderman or other creepy paranormal characters that seem to occupy your waking hours, not forgetting in the case of my almost 3-year old, long conversations on the antics of the inhabitants of Jungle Junction or the insufferable goings-on in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
I need to also assure you both that I have no objection to missing the TV news nightly, because it's clearly more important for your children to be hogging the box viewing a variety of cartoon networks ad nauseam. That is, if you're not otherwise occupied on my iPad or mobile phone after managing to decipher my passwords for the umpteenth time.
You'll also be relieved I'm not going to rabbit on about finishing your homework, picking up your clothes, cleaning your teeth, not spilling ice-cream on the couch or leaving bits of bloody Lego lying around for me to trip over while stumbling to the bathroom, in the small hours.
What I hope you will be gratified to learn is that I love you both to bits and feel truly blessed and privileged to be celebrating Father's Day again with a couple of adorable scallywags.
Warriors forward Feleti Mateo
Tahli, from the moment you were born, I just wanted to show you off to everyone.
For the first minute or two we didn't know if you were a boy or girl. Then I found out you were my little girl. My heart just melted.
It's hard to put into words what those first few minutes were like. My baby girl, you bring so much joy to our lives.
We both want you to be happy. The biggest thing for us is that you are happy and loved.
I also always want you to know where you came from, your heritage. I am Tongan, your mum is Hungarian, we're both from Australia and you were born in New Zealand, so you share a lot of -cultures. I'll make sure you recognise every one of them.
I can already see your personality. You're stubborn like your mother. You're determined.
I hope you keep that fight and willingness to do everything on your own. One day you'll have your own family and we hope you will provide for them, as we will provide for you.
I hope you're strong like your mother. I want to acknowledge your mum, the job she has done already and the job I know she will do raising you.
There will be obstacles in life. But never give up, never sell yourself short. You're capable of anything. You can accomplish anything as long as you believe you can.
TV presenter Jason Gunn
Dear Eve, Grace, Faith and Louis
Thank you. Thank you for knowing Mum wears the pants but making me feel like I do.
Thank you for letting me take over your school speeches, knowing it was the only homework I could ever really help you with.
Thank you for (frequently) letting me act more like an older brother than a father.
Thank you for listening to my "lectures" and making me feel I knew what I was talking about.
Thank you for eating my (same-old) chicken stir-fry dinner - and knowing I always needed to be told how good it tasted.
Thank you for telling me to "keep it light, Dad". But most of all, thank you for your unconditional love and the laughs we share.
I am so proud of you all, who you are and the way you are.
Love from your biggest fan, Daddy Jase
Sports show host and former Black Cap Mark Richardson
We knew your personalities before you were born.
One of you never slept, you were always kicking or moving. The other seemed really relaxed.
Charlie, you came out, had a quick look around and when you were warm again, you went back to sleep.
Annabel, your eyes were open in your first few hours of life.
Because you were both in all sorts of weird positions we had to book a caesarean.
It was surreal. You go in at 9 o'clock in the morning and an hour later they give you two kids.
The first two years were full on. In the first few months I got tremendous satisfaction from just getting you changed, fed, wrapped and off to sleep.
It's amazingly tiring and amazingly stressful, yet it's amazingly good at the same time.
You don't know how much you could love something until you have children.
I want to give you the best possible life. I don't want to spoil you rotten but I want to give you opportunity.
But I also want to teach you that life doesn't owe you any favours.
Experience everything you can, within reason.
Don't be afraid to put yourself out there.
You do have to think about others, but you've still got to think about you and make sure that you go out there and get everything you can get.
Set your goals and chase them.
