Thank you, Dad.

A few weeks back, I wrote a post for my mom for Mother’s Day. I wanted to take a moment to recognize my Dad and thank him on this Father’s Day Weekend for everything he’s done for me.

If your dad’s still with us, I hope this post inspires you to also write a thank you note. And if not, maybe spend a few moments thinking about your dad and reflect on the memories you still have.

Thank you, Dad.

Thank you for being a great provider.

Your job was demanding but I never heard you complain. And our family never went hungry.

Thank you for going out and getting another job after you were let go, even though it was farther away and required travel. You could have easily collected unemployment and sat around complaining about how life was unfair, but you didn’t. You hit the pavement and found something else. I don’t think you knew that as a little boy, I was watching how you handled that, but I was.

Thank you for letting Mom and me tag along and go out of town with you as much as you did. Those trips as a family were fun and made my childhood special and I still think of them often.

Thank you for not being mad at me when I accidentally broke your mom’s China when I was five years old and hid underneath your bed for what felt like forever. I felt bad enough already.

Thank you for taking me out to breakfast on Saturday mornings. It’s a tradition I keep with my boys today and I look forward to it every week. I like to think that they might keep the tradition, too.

Thank you for saying Yes when I’d ask you to throw the ball with me out in the yard. I know you really didn’t like that kind of thing, but you did it because you knew that it meant something to me.

It meant the world to me.

Thank you for lying on the floor all night long while keeping my hand in a bowl of ice water after I grabbed your car’s scorching hot exhaust pipe when you told me not to. Sorry I didn’t listen to you.

Thank you for driving me to basketball games all over town when it was inconvenient and probably the last thing you wanted to be doing on a weekend after working hard all week long.

Thank you for not being embarrassed that I was the worst player on the team, demonstrated with antics like trying to make a basket from half court for what must have seemed like no good reason.

Sorry about that air ball from half court. I really thought I was going to make the shot. Thank you for not making me feel like an idiot after the game on the way home. I was trying to impress you.

That was the reason.

Thank you for grilling me endlessly when you noticed that a cigarette and a beer were missing from your stash. You had so many, I really didn’t think you would ever notice if I took one of each.

I forgot that you were an accountant.

Thank you for quitting smoking and drinking 30 years ago. I wonder if you’d be reading these words today if you hadn’t made and stuck to that tough decision. You would have missed so much.

Thank you for working two years past when you were supposed to retire to help put me through college. I didn’t think much of it at the time but realize now how much of a sacrifice that was.

Thank you for saving for my college so that by the time I left high school, school was completely paid for. It gave me a sense of security knowing the only thing stopping me now would be me.

Thank you for making me pay my own way when I changed majors so many times while trying to “find myself” that I ran out of paid credits. That’s when I started taking college seriously.

Thank you for telling me you didn’t believe I would finish college. It was the wake up call that I needed. I know now I wasn’t proving you wrong, I was proving what you really believed right.

Thank you for always being happy to see me, whether I was gone for a day or gone for three months. I always knew when I walked through that door you’d have a smile on your face.

Thank you for all of the talks over the years, from how to handle broken relationships to career advice. You didn’t always know what to say, but you were always there to listen.

Thank you for hanging in there when you went to the hospital twice. I almost lost you both times. Thank you for fighting for your life, I can’t imagine my boys not knowing you.

Thank you for being such a great Pawpaw. My boys love you so much. I know this because they go berzerker whenever they learn that they’re going to visit you. I know you love them even more.

Thank you for being a great husband to Mom and staying married for over 40 years. In a world where people like to take the easy way out, you two stayed together even when it wasn’t easy.

Thank you for setting that wonderful example for me. Happy Father’s Day. I love you, Dad.