Build Me a Father

It seems unfortunate that once again, Saturday came and went without a story from me. I got caught up in a couple of softball games and time slipped away from me. (Luckily not enough that I have a sunburn to show for my lack of attention.) Good stories always happen when it involves me and sports. My brothers did not pass along their athletic aptitude to me.

Today, I wish to introduce you to my Dad. Only seems appropriate for Father's Day, right?

Dad is a quiet, unassuming man. He has a weird sense of humor, meaning whenever he gets up and speaks in Church and says something he thinks is hilarious, my mother and I usually turn to each other and roll our eyes. It doesn't matter how often we tell him, he doesn't get it. But we still love him.

I believe I've inherited his knack for all things electronics. Just the other day I was at my friends' apartment trying to play a DVD. They had two DVD players and the one not hooked up to the TV was the one that played the DVD. My friend suggested that her brother could hook it up (who was in the next room). I complied. Better to let men be men than for me to tinker for 15 minutes. However, I still provided some small suggestions maybe twice that let to the successful completion of the task. 

I sometimes fear that I'm too independent because tinkering usually fixes the problems. Thanks, Dad.

He's a good man who has provided for my entire family (all 8 eight kids and my mother) for a long time. And he still does. Family reunions happen every other year and he always seems to pay for something that brings the entire cost down for the rest of us.

He has now lived longer than both of his parents lived.

He loves watching his sports. But sometimes I used to catch him watching Dawson's Creek or some other primetime teen soap opera. I was almost embarrassed that he had such a guilty pleasure. But mostly, he loves old Western movies. John Wayne. Or old prison movies. Twelve O'Clock High.

I sure do love him. I realize that I'm probably a foreign visitor to him (he doesn't know how to deal with girls—he has six boys! And he only had one sister!), but I'm grateful that he was always willing to do my homework help me with my math homework in high school. I still use that story. The most difficult problems I could always take to him. He'd solve it, then talk me through the solution and hand me the paper so that I could copy it to my homework. Made me look so brilliant. I always gave him credit.

So, that's my dad. And I hope that today, on Father's Day, he knows how much I adore him.