Happy Fathers' Day

Happy Father's Day.

Today I had the wonderful privilege of spending the day with my Dad. We didn't do anything all that different than any other Sunday that I go over to share lunch and the day wallowing in front of the TV, but it was just nice being there with him today. Lots of folks can't do that.

My brother is out of state and wasn't able to enjoy this day with him. And both my Mom and Dad are unable to spend the day with their fathers. Mom's dad died back in 2002 and we lost my other Grandfather this past Christmas. It was a little melancholy for them today. Mom mentioned that she had a file full of Fathers' Day cards but no Father.

The picture above is from one of our recent beach fishing trips. I think this one was probably taken about 3 years ago. That was one of the things that my Dad, my Grandfather, and I shared together. I'm so glad that we did. I am especially glad that Grandfather got one more good trip in this past November - just a few weeks before he died. I think that we all knew that it would probably be his last, but that didn't mess up things at all. In fact, I think that realization made it even better. We really enjoyed each other as much as we had in years. And Grandfather had the best time that he had in years.

Here's a little story from that trip that I hope I will always remember. My Grandfather always had a sweet tooth for as long as I can remember. This was a constant with him. Over the past few years, dementia had begun to strip away many of the layers of the Grandfather I had spent so many hours with throughout my life, but this is one thing that even dementia couldn't touch!

Anyway, one night Dad had gone to take his shower and had left Grandfather to fend for himself for a little while. I came up to get a little dessert, and when I got to the kitchen, I found him with a nice-sized stack of chocolate chip cookies and one of those Little Debbie® oatmeal cream cookies. When he saw me, he looked a little sheepish - he knew he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar!

I said something like, "I see you found something to snack on." And I proceeded to go and cut myself a piece of my mom's pound cake. Well, Grandfather looked at that cake and said to me, "You know, I think that would be better than this. I'll trade you these cookies for a piece of that cake."

Well, I cut him a piece of cake too and he handed me the cookies and took both pieces of cake!

I sure miss him.

This summer I am getting a great opportunity to work with my dad in the garden. He is giving me some much needed advice and is pitching in here and there with physical assistance too. And last night we did something that we haven't done in probably 18 years - we went to see the Rowan American Legion baseball team in action. The tickets cost us $9 for both of us and then you could get loaded hot dogs for $1.50, drinks for $1.25, and peanuts and popcorn for $1 each.

It had just started raining when we got to the ballpark. They played the first inning (Rowan jumped out to a commanding 4 run lead) and then they stopped the game because of the rain. It rained pretty hard and we were sure that there was no way that we'd be watching nine innings that night, but fortunately (for the game) the rain tapered off and we were able to enjoy the entire game. It is fun to build these memories with him. (Rowan won 8-4 by the way!)

I am very blessed to have a father who loves God, loves my Momma, and loves me. (He even loves my brother and sister!) It seems to me that there are only so many ways to express your admiration and appreciation of your Dad. I find that words really don't convey the truth about how much I appreciate, love, and look up to my Dad. Hopefully he knows this because he has been in the same spot.

Anyway, here's a Happy Fathers' Day to my Dad - the best dad in the world!

Happy Fathers' Day

On Fathers' Day I just want to pay tribute to my dad. It is so easy to take parents for granted. They are always there, they are always the same, and so it is easy to get accustomed to the way that they are. I never really realized how good I had it until I went away to college. There I met so many people who came from broken homes or came from homes where the father (or mother) weren't the most supportive of their children. I actually had one fraternity brother whose parents threw him out of the house because he believed in speaking in tongues. Unbelievable.

My father is a good man who loves Jesus Christ very much and has done his best to train me to follow the Lord. I'm glad that he was successful in that pursuit! He has also taught me so much more than that. He has taught me about integrity and about what it means to be a good employee. I'd have to say that most of my business ethics I developed as a direct result of watching and learning from him. He has taught me about hard work and diligence and responsibility. There were lots of times that it would have been easier for him to check out when I was growing up, but he stayed put.

Over the past year and a half I have had the honor of working with my dad in his business. I have heard so many horror stories about that kind of arrangement, but I have to say that our partnership has been wonderful. Of course we rub each other the wrong way sometimes - mostly over failure to communicate well with each other - but the love and respect that we have for each other always seems to overcome that.

One of the neat things that I have been able to learn about my dad while working with him is that he has a "steel" side. I never saw so much of that growing up, because most of the time he was very gentle with my siblings and me, but I have absolutely no doubt that this man has a spine! Seeing this trait in him has helped me to strengthen my own.

I appreciate my dad for not being afraid to discipline me in love too. I don't care what the psychologists say out there; physical discipline is indispensable in character development. He is also not afraid to correct me when I'm wrong even now. Granted, I am hardly EVER wrong! ;-)

One lesson that I'll never forget regarded fidelity. My dad was in a discussion with someone about a marriage that had broken up and the question of fidelity came up. The other person commented that one could hardly blame the husband if he had been unfaithful due to some of the personality flaws in the wife. My dad instantly (and forcefully) said, "There is never an excuse for infidelity." I'll never forget that.

It is a lesson that he has lived out for nearly 40 years, and I really appreciate that too. When I see how many people don't have parents that have stayed married it makes me really appreciate my parents for working through the rough spots. It helps me to have faith that marriage can still work.

So here’s to my dad for all the many things that he has done for me and for the many lessons that he has taught me. I’m so very grateful to have you for my father and for my friend.