Happy Fathers Day!

I'm not really one given over to particularly sentimental musings but this is probably a pretty good time. Don't worry I won't get all mushy.

It took me a number of years before I realized how lucky I got with my family. My dad never pushed me into activities I didn't enjoy. Instead, he noticed that I seemed to like baseball; so he watched games on TV with me, bought me baseball cards, enrolled me in t-ball and always found time to play catch with me. In later years, when I joined the swim team (and realized I was a much better swimmer than ballplayer) my parents never missed a single meet. Ok, there was that one time my senior year in high school when I won every event I started, but my mom and dad got delayed at an appointment, but that was kind of a freakish occurence.

I guess for a long time I assumed everyone grew up having a great relationship with their father. I have very clear memories, of when I was six or so, and my dad coming home from a long shift at work but still taking the time to play with me. We'd lay on the living room rug building Lincoln Log forts for my toy soldiers while he was practically nodding off. Looking back now he was probably thinking "I just want to lay down and take a nap!" but he always took the time, every time. And it's only now I realize just how rare that really is.

Happy Fathers day to my dad, the reason I can't go to bed at night without checking the baseball scores, the reason I will always have boundless admiration for the U.S. armed services, the reason I know how to check my tire pressure and will actually do so on occasion, the reason I always open the car door for my fiancee.

Hey dad, you rock.