Love Thursday: For Dad

With Father's Day coming up this weekend (that's right!  Get those cards in the mail!), I decided nothing could be a more appropriate topic for a Love Thursday post.

Let me tell you about my Dad.  He's stubborn.  He's really smart.  He has a big laugh and a really nice singing voice.  Sometimes, he's very cranky.  He's often sentimental.  He's always principled.  He gets outraged when he sees something he thinks isn't right, and he takes action to fix it.

I am always cognizant of how much of my personality is based on my relationship with my father, and on his example.  Let me tell you a few stories to illustrate.  When I was a little girl, my Dad was this all-powerful authority figure who worked all week, but always had time for play on the weekends.  In the summers, he would join my mom and brothers and me at the pool on the weekends, and let us climb all over him.  My favorite game was to swim up behind him and catch his hands.  He would submerge himself underwater, holding my hands so that I could scramble onto his shoulders; then he would jump back up out of the water, launching me across the pool into the deep end.  I can so intensely remember the feeling of his hot skin, slimy with sunscreen, my feet sliding around on his shoulders, and sailing airborne, clear across the pool, in complete and utter freedom.  I learned that hard work creates security, but that the best part of the week is when you get to splash around and laugh with the ones you love the most.  And his strong shoulders supported me in a million other ways as I grew up.

Now I'm too big to play that game.  But I would if I still could.  :)

Let me tell you another story.  When I signed up for Little League for the first time, the school had created a baseball team for the boys, and a softball team for the girls.  I think I was about 6 years old at the time.  When my father learned of this situation, he very loudly insisted that I play on the team with the boys.  HIS girl was taller than most of those little runts, could run faster, and was NOT going to be discriminated against.  While it was true that I was taller and faster than most kids my age, it also turns out that I sucked at baseball; but for the rest of my life, I felt entitled to play with the boys. 

That may have caused some problems for him later, when I got to be a teen-ager.  I inherited his stubborn streak and, having been told at a young age that I could do anything I put my mind to, put that into quite literal practice as a young adult.

One more story.  After I graduated from college, I didn't live in the same state as my parents for 15 years.  I wasn't even within driving distance for half of those years.  So we saw each other rarely, maybe twice a year.  Whenever we did, Dad would well up with tears, pinch my cheek, and envelop me in a bear hug.  In 2008, my parents moved to Virginia, and we're now only about a 45-minute drive from each other.  We now see each other every couple weeks.  And every time, my Dad wells up a little bit, pinches my cheek and envelops me in a big bear hug.

Dad, you couldn't have done a better job.  I love you.

Happy Love Thursday.  For the original Love Thursday post, clicke here.

Comments

[LoLa]

Nice post. Thanks for reminding me to write a post about my Dad this Sunday. And thanks for visiting LoLaSuzanne. Happy Love Thursday.

[Annette]

sniffle,...love that. My dad envelops me in a big bear hug everytime he sees me .......
.holding an italian hero sub from Momma Lombardis.

[Marie]

LoLa - Thank you!

Annette -- LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!

[elizasmom]

Awww. I like your dad; he sounds like a good guy, and even if they backfired on him from time to time when you were a teen, he taught you some important lessons.

[churi]

That may've been your best post ever. Well said. We're fortunate people to have such marvelous parents.

[Gayle]

Oh, how beautiful! Thank you for sharing your stories of your sweet dad with us!

[shanzie]

that was awesome. really made me miss you guys and i feel so grateful to be part of this fam! wish i could get bear hugs from both of you! two things are just a little too familiar to me - my father's teaching of "you can do whatever you put your mind to" also came back to haunt him. plus, the games in the pool with dad is right out of my childhood - right down to the slimy sunscreen! haha! :)

[Kate]

What a beautiful post, Marie. Thank you for sharing those stories. And I have to agree: your dad did a marvelous job raising you. :)

[Dina]

Love, indeed.