It’s Father’s Day, and with that, here are five reasons why my dad is the best dad ever:
1. He’s been married to my mom for 32 years.
In addition to being Father’s Day this week, my parents also celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary this week. This is a staggering statistic in a society where 50 percent of couples – even evangelical Christian ones – get divorced. That’s not to say they don’t have disagreements, arguments, and tiffs, because they do. It’s that they’re completely devoted to each other, and always apologize and work it out together — my dad says their theme song is by the Beatles: “We Can Work it Out.”
2. Other people tell me he’s cool.
I can’t keep track of the amount of times people have told me, “Your dad is so cool.” This means it’s not just me who thinks so – he is actually cool. For a lot of different reasons:
- He used to work for Nestle and was on the marketing team that created mini-Shock Tarts, mini-Sprees, and mini-Sweet Tarts. He also helped develop double-sided Laffy Taffy and Giant Pixy Stix. My house was always stacked with candy galore. I had an amazing childhood. And a lot of friends for this reason.
- He met rapper Chingy on a plane once and had him sign a barf bag for me.
- To motivate people, he walks around with a snare drum at work (this is NOT a drill).
- He has a karaoke competition coming up at work, and he plans to participate, backed by a full band with choreography in front of 500+ professional sales and marketing people from around the world (stay tuned for details…I don’t want to spoil the surprise).
- He never says no to Steak-n-Shake.
3. He loves me unconditionally.
No matter what I want or choose to do, and no matter what I’ve done, he loves me anyway. Even when I made stupid mistakes and he had to correct me or discipline me, he did it in an extremely loving — but firm — way. He also is willing to stop everything at the drop of a hat to help people in need – like when I had to move apartments in Chicago. He drove 18 hours straight and left work for two days without missing a beat.
4. He believes nothing is impossible, and always encourages me (and my sisters) to pursue our dreams.
“Never settle for less than the best” has been his mantra to me for years. He’s always pushing me to be the best that I can be (he has a MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, and encouraged me to go get my Masters of Science in Journalism at Northwestern University, which I did. Boo-Yah!), while also encouraging me to take time to myself and remember to rest and “take a load off” every once in a while.
5. He loves Jesus and is an eternal optimist.
I’ll never forget when my dad lost his job during the recession in 2008. At first our family was scared and devastated, but he never was–or at least never showed it. Instead, he always reminded us to trust God to provide for us. As soon as he lost his job, he bought a 365-day-chronological Bible and faithfully read a passage per day. Then, after a not-so-great interview with a company in Iowa, he sang along to Third Day’s “Trust in Jesus” all the way home. As soon as he arrived back on his home turf, he had a job offer from the company he’s currently employed at. #PTL!!!
These are five reasons why I have the best dad ever. He knows how to make somebody’s day, I’m blessed to know him, and as his oldest daughter, believe I’ve inherited all of his positive qualities. 🙂
I love you, dad! Happy Father’s Day!!!
(Photo caption at top: Dad and I at Paul Bunyan’s Cook Shanty in Wisconsin Dells. In addition to giving out free horn hats for everyone, they have delicious food!)
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