My Daddy

Fathers' Day.

Another Hallmark-generated phony "holiday", set aside for driving sales of greeting cards, ugly ties, and for those kids with extra pocket change, a new grill or Big Green Egg. 

See, here's the thing - I love my dad and I want to honor him and make his life easier every single day for the rest of his life, 24/7, 365.  I don't need a special day on the calendar to remind me of how much he has done for me and to remind him of how much I love him.

But since I do have this sanctioned opportunity to gush about him, don't mind if I do.  I have a thousand reasons, but here are just a few:

My daddy:

• Taught me to swim
• Taught me to ride a bike in the parking lot at Reed's Fine Foods
• Taught me to drive a car on Cherokee Boulevard (and didn't flinch - much - when I crashed it)
• Taught me to say "sir" and "ma'am" (and that it's still appropriate to use with my elders today, even if I'm practically one of them)
• Taught me that standing just inside the open garage door when the sky turns purple-black and starts rumbling is the very best seat in the house. 
• Taught me to treat everyone with gentle kindness and good humor, regardless of their tax bracket or skin color
• Taught me a whole lot of awesome dirty jokes and a couple of clean ones
• Taught me that all the best music is either blues, bluegrass or gospel
• Taught me that hound dogs and hunting dogs are the only dogs worth knowing

My daddy:

• Watched me (as far as I know) every single time I stood on the diving board at MaMa's pool, badgering him to "watchmewatchmewatchmedaddywatchme WATCHME!!!"
• Watched from the back rows of school plays, choral events and high school graduation so the divorced parents thing wouldn't make me uncomfortable (but came anyway, just to make sure I knew he was there)
• Watched me make hundreds of mistakes, knowing that his DNA had rendered me incapable of listening to reason

My daddy:

• Bailed me out of my own drama and messes too many times to count
• Didn't bail me out when it was time to make me grow up

 

My daddy:

• Took me to the beach nearly every single summer of my childhood
• Took me deep sea fishing and taught me how to gut my fish myself
• Took me waterskiing (and let me keep trying over and over and over again to get up until my arms turned to spaghetti)
• Took me scuba diving
• Took my calls for help in the middle of the night
• Took me to camp (and came to get me early when I called him crying)
• Took me ice skating on Friday nights at the Ice Chalet
• Took me to the mountains more times that I can count, teaching me to love quiet woods and critters therein
• Took me back home every other Sunday afternoon, tears in his eyes sometimes as he pulled back out of the driveway.

Today, I live a few hours away from my daddy, but it doesn't matter because he is always right here in my head and my heart.  I still pursue his approval, despite having had it for quite some time now.  I love to make him laugh, and I generally have plenty of good material when we talk, just stories from a day in the life of his daughter.

And oh, how I love that he calls me his baby girl, despite my impending arrival at the big five-oh.

I could bewail the lost time and angry words and all the embarrassment I caused him.

Instead, I think I'll take the opportunity this Fathers' Day (and every day) to instead tell him again how very, very much I love him.