Today we celebrate the men in our lives who fill the role of Dad. I’m fortunate to have a wonderful Dad to look up to. In fact, I was asked to speak about my dad in church today….but here’s how it went down….
When our pastor’s wife, Diane, asked me one Sunday morning a while back to describe Dad with one word, I immediately teared up and answered with, “Steadfast”.
I googled Steadfast to be sure I was using the best word to describe Dad – yep – Google’s definition pretty much sums up my Dad. Loyal, faithful, committed, devoted, dependable, reliable, true, constant, solid and trustworthy.
As one of his children, that is exactly the kind of father that I need. Dad and I share very different personalities, as an example, Diane asked me to speak and I completely forgot, booking myself into a class in the city, so I wasn’t even there to present my speech where as Dad would’ve written it weeks ago and tweaked it and re-written it in preparation….but he is what I need. Someone to share my hurts and victories with. Someone to share silence with. Someone to share my big ideas and simple problems with.
As I weave my way through life, Dad is a steady place I can retreat to for advice, comfort and a hug. I know that he is still dedicated to his children no matter what we do, what mistakes we make, he loves us and remains by our sides. We haven’t always made this easy. But there he remains.
It is an honour to call him my Dad. He is well-respected within a variety of communities – in our church, at home in our local community, the farming communities and within our family unit.
Years ago I made a scrapbook for Dad of the farm through the years. The last page is this picture of him, sporting a toque, coveralls, holding a one of his lambs with this Clarence Budington Kelland quote, ‘He didn’t tell me how to live, he lived and let me watch him do it.’
Dad, I know you’ll read this – and you heard it all in church, but thank you for being the best Dad a girl could ask for!
To be continued,
Lori
(Photo credit to Christine of Wonkyeye!)
