Plenty of other good writers are writing plenty about Fathers’ Day. Check out the links. There’s a lot of good remembrances and tributes to Dad there.
I only want to say that there are precious few men I truly admire and only one I call my hero. That’s my Dad. He didn’t save anyone’s life not was he a war hero. He doesn’t have any harrowing tales of bravery to tell, at least not that he’s ever told me. He’s the son of a coal miner who came to Washington DC when he was 21 armed with a Vo-Tech School education and the admonition from his father to do better than he did. And so he did. He’s raised nine children, none of whom are felons and most of whom have families of their own. We kids are a fractious lot and we surely have not been model children. I know that there have been times I have grieved his heart and I hope that I have become the sort of man he hoped I would be when I was a kid.
He quit smoking, cold turkey, and quit drinking pretty much the same way, because he knew that it wasn’t how he wanted to live his life. He’s a devout Christian and one of the smartest men about faith and the Bible I’ve ever met. He still works at what he loves – designing and making things that people use every day. He’s in his 60s, not that you’d know it from his jet black hair and the way he still runs rings around much younger men, even with a heart condition.
He’s my Dad and I’m proud of him. I love you, Pop.
Tags: Fathers' Day
