Dear Dad,
In the last few days my mind has done some puddle-jumping from one memory to another. Father’s Day is here again and I’ve been thinking about the many different things that made you the perfect dad for me. I know I am pretty fortunate because many people didn’t have a daddy like I did, and I really cannot imagine what that would be like. It makes me all the more grateful though, to be an adult who can look back and find joy in the childhood memories we made together.
On this Father’s Day I want to take a quick trip down memory lane and say thank you for the many things you did that contributed to making me the person I am today.
Thank you dad for protecting me from the bully who chased me after school every day, making me scared to walk in my own neighborhood for months. Thank you for teaching me how to catch night-crawlers in the yard with a flashlight after dark for our fishing trip, and then for teaching me how to take those same night-crawlers and put them on my hook. (But also, always being willing to remove any fish I caught because I couldn’t bring myself to touch them.)
Thank you for teaching me how to ice skate and how to get back up after falling down, even when my knees were black and blue. Thank you for taking me snow-boot shopping and letting me buy the cute, stylish boots I wanted, even though they never did keep my feet warm or dry during winter that year.
Thank you for not spanking me when mom caught me stomping through the puddles in my new shoes on my way home from school, (while carrying my rain boots in my hands.) Thank you for spanking me when I had it coming or needed an attitude adjustment.
Ah, yes, daddy. Thank you for sitting through seven years of band concerts when I know you had many things you would rather have been doing. And thank you for teaching me how to throw a football and get by with a bat, ball, and glove so I could at least attempt to keep up with the other kids in the neighborhood ball games.
Thank you, dad, for teaching me to drive and never losing your patience while doing it. Even when I was ridiculously intimidated and didn’t want to get behind the wheel of your truck. Thank you for showing me there are times to have fun and times to be serious and get a job done. And for all the times you said “good job, daughter,” after I finished some project or another.
Thank you for teaching me how to dance the polka and then practicing with me at every wedding we ever went to. Thank you also for letting me teach you how to line dance and act silly on the dance floor of some of those same weddings.
Thank you for holding me in your lap and letting me cry when I came in last in my heat at the 8th grade track meet and I felt like such a fool. Thank you for teaching me how to stand up for myself against annoying boys who gave me unwanted attention. And then for sitting with me and a certain boy while we watched TV when I decided this particular boy wasn’t so annoying after all.
Thank you for walking me down the aisle when I got married. Thank you for being there after I had my first baby and I was scared to death. Thank you for being a grandpaw to each one of my children. And thank you dad, for being married to my amazing mom for fifty years.
I’m so glad God gave me you for a dad.
I love you.
In honor of Father’s Day, we are sharing stories of amazing local dads.
Read more “A Tribute to Dad” stories and perspectives from Corpus Christi area moms.
