(pictures from June 2007)Mabes would like to take this opportunity to wish Dave a Happy Father's Day. Unfortunately, Dave is traveling for work right now, so this blog post and the card we ever-so-secretively snuck into his suitcase are the extent of our Father's Day celebrations.
I asked Mabes why she likes Daddy, and her response was a simple "He play with me!" She went on to talk about playing hide and seek, playing trains, coloring, and going on walks. I was trying to think of something beyond that, like "he's supportive and I know he loves me unconditionally." But then I remember she's 2.
But she knows that after dinner is playtime with Daddy, and Saturday mornings are Daddy/Mabes time while Mommy sleeps in. She knows that if Daddy's watching TV, she can grab a book and he'll happily read to her. She knows that when Daddy sees her after a long workday, he's happy. And she knows that even if Daddy isn't home to tuck her in at night, he loves her and wishes he could be there.
So while she may never understand how much her father loves her, she knows that he spends as much time as he can with her. And for that, he's already her hero.
Mabes with the picture she colored today--she's shouting "I love you, Daddy!"And Happy Father's Day to my own dad. I'm sure Laura or someone will post a picture of my dad and his supplementary angle pose (come on, someone has that, right?), which perfectly highlights his silly side. You see, my dad has an awesome sense of humor. He can be witty and sharp one minute, then completely silly the next. From an early age, I marveled at how smart he is--he knew all the answers on Double Dare, and most of the answers on Jeopardy--and those questions were really hard. When he turned 35, I was really surprised he didn't run for President. I mean, he was old enough, everybody liked him, and he was so smart surely he could end the Cold War, so why not? My 8-year-old brain couldn't figure it out.
While the intelligence and humor are great qualities, I think I appreciate his honest advice and listening ear the most. Even if he doesn't tell me what to do, there's something about talking things through with him that leaves me with a sense of calm and the ability to handle problems I'd previously thought were impossible.
Happy Father's Day, Pappy.
4 comments:
Done and done!
I'm impressed your 8 year old brain knew 35 was the age limit for Presidents, not to mention knowing what the cold war was.
Are you questioning it? I'm sure Dad must have mentioned it shortly before turning 35 and that's why I knew. I very clearly remember having that conversation with Mom at the stoplight at Stevenson and Blacow. I don't know why. I don't know if I knew it was called the Cold War, but I knew we didn't like the Soviet Union. And I knew we didn't like Libya, thanks to Back to the Future.
I also have a very clear memory of being in Grandma and Grandpa O's room watching the Berlin wall fall. I'm not sure why we were watching it in there, but they kept saying how amazing and historic it was. I didn't get it at the time, but Dad, Gma, and Gpa were always so interested in things going on in the world that they talked about in such a way that we understood.
As a sidenote, we were at Costco a couple of weeks ago and Dave overheard a man talking about the current mortgage lending crisis and assumed he was talking to a friend or his wife. Dave turned around and realized he was talking to his maybe 9-year-old son. He pointed it out, and I got kind of teary, because that's how Dad was/is with us. We'd ask a question, and he'd give us an intelligent, not dumbed-down response. He talked to us like we were smart enough to "get" things, which made us want to know what was going on even more. Right?
(Becca and I were just talking about this so at least she agrees with me!)
It was easy to avoid talking down to you kids, since even I could see you were innately more intelligent than I was, and I needed to be respectful so that when you surpassed me in the knowledge department you would be kind to me. So now it's payoff time.
And your memory about my turning 35 is very good, as I commented on my eligibility for the Presidency on several occasions. Of course, that was in jest as I thought I was unfit for office. Recent experience suggests I was being falsely modest (no tribute to me, but rather an observation of the bar having been lowered).
And I really need to do something about the PAC moniker here. Sorry.
Dad
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