Happy 77th Birthday, Dad.
I wish I could give you a gift worth even 10% of what you have given me. The lessons that you taught me, and the values that you instilled in me are the most amazing gifts one could receive. Now that I am a Dad, those gifts are even more important. Not a day goes by that I don't think about you and the impact you've had on my life and the lives of my family.
As I go through the joys and travails of fatherhood, I often ask what you would do. I think back to when you told me about finding me crawling through a drainage culvert pipe. One of the most important lessons from that for me was that even when I am freaking out on the inside, on the outside I have to be the calm rock my kids need. I never understood how afraid you could be... until now. And I now I find it amazing that you were so calm.
I vividly remember how bored I was in all of the museums you dragged me in to. I remember how I swore I wouldn't drag my kids through battlefield "interpretive centers" and "interactive experiences." Of course that was when I was just a kid... and now I want to drag my kids to the same places.
The gift I could have given was the boys, they would have brought you joy. I know that you would have loved to have been able to play with them and bounce each of them on your knee in turn. And I also know what you meant when you told me that one of your great joys was to give me a kiss on the forehead as I slept, as a youngster.
I hope that you know that even thought you have been gone for 12 years, you are still very much a part of my life and the lives of your grandsons. And though they won't meet you in this life, you will shape them as you have shaped me.
Happy Birthday, Dad.
And thank you!
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That's very sweet!!! I hope you're dad has a great birthday.
Karen - He passed away from lung cancer in 1997. I write a post each year about him because like all parents, he has profoundly affected my life and the lives of those after me. I have great ones, but even my friends that have not had exceptional parents have learned from them.