Celebrating My Dad…

On this day, I’m not writing about what’s new, the latest hot product, or the shoes I found over the weekend. Today, I’m writing about someone very special in my life. I’m not sure if I was compelled to write this to honor my dad for Father’s Day or if it was the passing of Tim Russert that touched my heart as it did with so many others around the world. I think it was both. I always said that I had the best dad, and I do. He didn’t’ tell me how to live, but he lived and let me watch him. Dad taught me how to fish, ride a bike, and played kick ball with my friends and me almost every summer night. He taught me how to swing a bat, not to be afraid in the dark and how to sing my children to sleep. I always thought he had the best voice on Blueberry Hill. He even taught me how to mow the lawn and pick fresh fruits and vegetables in the garden “the right way”. My dad knows how to walk in the wind, watch and listen to the birds and can tell you about cold fronts, warm fronts, why the weather is the way it is on any given day and in any part of the country. He too is a Buffalo Bills fan and gets pleasure from every sport that there is. His golf game and buddies are two of the most important things in his life. I know that this keeps him young at heart. My dad never asks for much and gets pleasure out of everything. He just loves the simplicity of life and appreciates everything in it. When his chin tips up in the air and he looks down from the bottom of his glasses at any of us or his grandchildren in thought or concern, I get the pleasure of knowing…he’s my Dad.

In memory of Tim Russert, I must share what a very good friend and writer said to me yesterday about learning of Tim’s passing. He said, “It was like watching the running scene in Forrest Gump with everyone following. When Gump stopped, the followers looked up as if to say…’what about us’?”

Happy Father’s Day Dad!

Mrs. O

June 18, 2008 on 6:53 pm | In All