A very good dad

I love this picture of my dad taken by my brother Mac because it shows a little of what my dad did for our family growing up and still does.  I never stopped to think about why I was warm in the winter, where the wood came from, or how much work went into making it all happen.  I learned this year how much my dad hates being out in the cold bringing wood into the house.  But, he has done it year after year to show his love for his family.  What a guy!
  I just got home from a really good meeting at church where the emphasis was on fathers.  I had to really restrain myself to keep from bawling my guts out in front of all those people. I got so emotional thinking about my dad and what he has meant to my life.  What a gift he is to me. What a blessing.  How lucky I am to have such a good dad.
My dad put up with so much from me all my life. I'd be too embarrassed to tell you all that I put him through, so I'll tell you just one thing- actually a BIG thing.  When I graduated from high school I decided that I wanted to attend Utah State University. This is where my grandpa graduated from and where both of my grandpa's parents also graduated from.  My friend Heather was going there and so I had a friend to go with.  Even though Weber State would have been more economical for our family and probably a better fit for me I did not want to go to the local school. I don't even remember discussing my college plans with my dad.  I just kind of went out and did what I wanted to do.
One day my friend Heather and I went up to USU with her mom to sign up for housing.  Her parents had saved up for her college and were prepared to pay for her schooling including housing, food, books, etc.  We wanted to be roommates so we signed a contract there and then and were given a room number and building where we were going to live all year. We were giddy with excitement and her mom was there overseeing this so I didn't think twice about what I had just done.  Basically I just promised these people that my divorced dad who was surely barely making ends meet was going to pay them X amount of money every month for the next year so that I could live on campus.  He was going to be forking out a lot of money he didn't have. I remember vaguely the conversation I had with him about the whole thing and he was upset. How upset I don't know because I was too caught up in my own dreams to realize what effect it had on anybody else.  For a whole year he made that payment and even more.

Not until a few years later when I got married and started paying my own way did it hit me what I had asked of him and what he had done for me.  An apology was given then, but I don't think it will ever be enough.  What love! What sacrifice!  What a good dad!   A very good dad indeed.



Happy Father's Day Dad.  I love you.


Father's Day  Part #2

Today when looking for a picture of me and my dad to post I could only find three. And they were from ages ago and they weren't that great. So today I made sure to get a picture of just us.  I think we look just alike. Then again if you saw a photo of me and my mom you would also think we looked just alike.

After dinner today my dad let Christian use his metal detector to find treasures in the yard.  Christian found quite the assortment. While digging where we once had a sandbox Christian unearthed two cars- one a fire truck and the other a jeep.  He also found a penny from the year I was born and some other bigger metal objects out by the barn.  When we were little my dad would get out this metal detector and dig around the yard with us right on his heels. It was so fun to hear that beep and anticipate what he had found. It was disappointing to see him find a screw or other piece of metal and exciting when he found a coin or two. What excitement.  Dads are so much fun.