Thank you, Dad

Ok, so Father's Day gets me pretty choked up, too.  As I graze over the Father's Day card section at the store, I only pick up cards that have very brief messages on the front.  If I open them and there is a novel written inside, especially if there is writing on the right and left of the inside, it is automatically disqualified.  I am not saying those cards are terrible or cheesy or don't have wonderful messages in them, I just can't be expected to read through them and make it out of the store with my eyes not looking all swollen and bloodshot.  I don't like walking around like that, it makes people wonder just how awful my life is and that would be sad.

But obviously Father's Day should be celebrated just as much as Mother's Day.  Because we all want to see our dads at our sporting events, want them to engage in conversation with us and earn their pride.  We want them to have our backs no matter what, believe in us when we don't believe in ourselves and love us unconditionally.  We want to be able to call them when we have a question about how to get the water to stop coming in the basement or discuss the best way to install a counter top.  We want them to teach us how to drive and how to change a tire.  We need to see how a good man treats another person, how they treat your mom.

And somewhere along the way, a father's love will give you confidence, self-esteem and permission to be who you really are.  A father's love is far-reaching and will influence how you interact with others and how you view yourself.  I think the majority of fathers know this.  But it is hard.  It is tough to be at every game.  It is tough to have the patience it takes to simply get through a bed time routine with a toddler or keep up with a teenage girl's mood swings.  But they do it anyway.

So thank you.

Thank you dad in the Target parking lot that pulled his cart of 3 kids out of the store to, as calmly as he could, discuss how their behavior is unacceptable but give them a chance to redeem themselves.

Thank you to the dad whom started a girls hockey team just because his daughter wanted to play hockey but would have never been able to play with the boys.

Thank you to the dad that works multiple jobs or one decent paying job that he hates in order to support his family.

Thank you to the dad that always gave his daughters the benefit of the doubt that "they are not drunk.  They always act that way."

Thank you to the dad that sees a young mother and her young sons in the grocery store unable afford the bill for the food they picked out that buys the items the young mother had to say needed to be put back and then chases her down in the parking lot to make sure she got all the food she wanted to buy.

Thank you to the dad that takes his loud and energetic toddler on adventures to parks and bakeries and wherever else so his wife can have a break and bond with her new baby.

Thank you to the dad whose interests echos that of his kids.

Thank you to the dad boiling deer carcass heads on the grill because his daughter wants to spray paint them and hang them in her house.

Thank you to the dad of 4 girls that stops to help a young women change her tire on a freezing cold Wisconsin December day.

Thank you to the dad that tells elaborate scary bedtime stories night after night because his son asks him to "tell me a scary story."

Thank you for being there and making all the difference.

My dad and me

My Grandpa and me

My wonderful hubs and our babies

Happy Father's Day.