Happy Father's Day!

"Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope."  ~Bill Cosby

"My father always told me, 'Find a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life.' " 

-- Jim Fox 

"My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it." -- Clarence Budington Kelland

Happy Father's Day to all you dads reading this blog! I hope today is a special day filled with love from your kids. Special thoughts & prayers go out to you dads who have lost one of your children, as well as those of you who have lost your dads (or those whose dad was not present in their life). These days are often hard & painful as you face your loss. I hope you can remember some of the good memories as well:)

Because I have chosen to hold on to some anonymity on this blog (you can read my reason for this here), I can't post a picture of my dad and me, or share really personal stories. I would love to do this, though! But, because I like to have some personal touches on here, I thought I'd share a few things about my dad. 

As a young child, I lived apart from my dad for awhile as he had to move before my mom & I did to start a new job. During these months, I missed him greatly, and was also incredibly excited to see him. Once we were all in the same house again, I'd anxiously wait for him to come home, and jump off the stairs into his arms. As I grew older, we butted heads more, as we are both strong people with very loud personalities. Sure, this created some troubles along the way (what person doesn't have some trouble with their parents at some point?), but we worked through it. 


In college I had a friend die in a tragic accident. He left work and drove over 10 hours to be with me for the weekend. He took shopping lists from my friends, and paid for everything that everyone needed as we prepared for a visitation and funeral. He was there to hold me as I cried. And he was there to tell me that I was going to be ok, that I would make it through this horrible event. A few weeks later, as I flew across country for the summer, he came with me just to make sure I was going to be ok. 


The 2nd quote above stuck out to me, because it's from my dad that I gained my love for the health field, public speaking, and writing. He often said that quote to me, and he was right. I found a job I love and it's a very rare day that I feel that I have to work. I am grateful to him for so many things: for all the hours he spent going over my papers helping me to become a better writer...all the way through editing my thesis for me multiple times, to showing me culture & the world, helping me focus on my strengths and passions & doing everything possible to help me succeed, and for teaching me how to survive in the world (amongst so many other things). I'm so grateful & aware of the blessings I have received along the way from my own dad. 

Happy Father's day to not only my own dad, but to all you dad's out there!

Do you have a good relationship with your dad? What's one important lesson you learned from him?