Tribute to my Dad for Fathers Day

photoMay you read this, and know how much you truly mean to me.  I love you.

I love that we take one day (atleast!) out of the year to celebrate our Fathers out there.  Growing up, it’s pretty safe to say that the majority of my life was spent having a best friend type relationship with my mom and being a smitten daddy’s little girl eager to earn the affection from my dad.

I think back to my childhood, and although it wasn’t ideal, there are SO MANY positives things that occurred that make me who I am today.  I moved in with you at the impressionable age of 12 having a pretty clear picture of your past, yet knowing I needed some structure you were sure to provide.  You grew up a military brat, yes brat would be how most would have describe J, but who isn’t a brat at one point or another in their life.  The military upbringing definitely trickled down to your style of parenting, hard core, no questions asked (ever), don’t cry, impossible is ALWAYS possible, and excellence is expected along with exceeding it.  One would call it a very abrupt, insensitive, parenting style which would be correct, however you did the best you could not really knowing the female side of things, sensitivity, and emotionally charged teenage years.   I look back on those years, and they were so essential to the formation of who I have become today.

You and mom had complete opposite parenting styles, and I needed to be shaken up a little.  I could have easily turned down a wrong path, and although I made mistakes here and there, I did turn out to be a daughter I’ve heard you say you are proud of.  I owe that, and A LOT of that to You.  You fought your way, tooth and nail, to get where you are today. Many would have crashed and burned, but not you.  You were my proof, proof that I could certainly do ANYTHING I put my mind to if I was willing to dig deep enough and WORK!  When times got rough, you got resourceful, worked longer hours took on more jobs and proved to those around you that you were WORTH making exceptions to promote and continue to let rise.  No job was too demeaning, no task too small.

I’ve constantly felt like I had something to prove, but that’s just made me work harder.  As years passed, I got older, bad times happened, I finally have the same friendship with you that I’ve had with my mom.  I can talk to you about anything, and you certainly have no filter.  I’m 100% sure I would never have believed in myself enough to do Ironman without your underlying message in my head that I was no wimp and I can do anything.  I look at how I parent, and even coach, and I’m definitely that more drill sergeant no excuses type person.  Right or wrong, I’m thankful that I finally blossomed from this emotionally charged adolescent to a fully independent confident woman.  I owe this all to you dad.  You are my proof.  When life knocks you down, you confidently pick yourself up and find a strategic solution and carry on.  Nothing about being a parent is easy, but I hope you know that I fully appreciate the life, guidance, and dramas we have been through.  Every last one of them has made a lasting impression on me, and I know that when push comes to shove, daddy’s there.  Thank you dad for the life you have made for me, and the person you have taught me to be.  You are, and always will be, awesome to me.  I may be grown up, but I will always be Daddy’s little girl.  You mean the world to me.

 

***Disclaimer, my mothers day post was during my Man and Woman of the Year Campaign so it may not have been as long but it was definitely  from the heart and meant to remind my mom she’s the bomb!

Written by

Vivamus vel sem at sapien interdum pretium. Sed porttitor, odio in blandit ornare, arcu risus pulvinar ante, a gravida augue justo sagittis ante. Sed mattis consectetur metus quis rutrum. Phasellus ultrices nisi a orci dignissim nec rutrum turpis semper.

No Comments Yet.

Leave a Reply

Message