Father’s Day Tribute

I’ve been sitting here thinking about what my father meant to me. To me, he was rough, callused hands that picked me up when I fell. He was gray hair up in curlers just to see me smile. He was crack of dawn fishing trips, and late nights spent wide awake awaiting his return from a night of hunting in anticipation of his big coon stories. He was peppermint ice cream from Braum’s when I didn’t feel well.  He was 6 a.m. wake-ups on Christmas morning because he was just excited as me. He was driving lessons on an old back road while the dogs trailed behind.

He guided me and nurtured me. He was there to hold my hand during my first heartbreak. He was my friend. He was my whole world.  

And as I sit and think about what this man meant to me, I can’t help seeing all of his children and his other grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and even great-great-grandchildren, and think about all that this man has meant to every one of us. We all have our different stories to share about this great man. Each one of us with this bit of him inside us. In our hearts and our memories. He shaped us all into who we are today.

Without the love of this great man, we would all have ceased to exist.  And I realize it’s not what this man meant to me, it’s what this man means to all of us. And although his time on this earth may soon be over, he lives on through us and how we carry ourselves. And I feel good knowing that if I get to missing him too badly, I can just look to one of you to help see that spark he has embedded in each one of us!.