Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there! Here's to all the things you do to be a good father. Here's an example gone all wrong. I love this commercial! You have to give this guy credit...at least he tried. Some of these poor kids probably developed Coulrophobia! (fear of clowns)
Reflections about my dad: The more I experience in life, the more I appreciate my dad. He loved us through good-times and times of heartache. It's a rare person who truly selflessly loves others. I see a lot of dad's who seem to use their kids to make up for something they lack. They experience the life they wished they had through their kids lives, whether or not it's best for their kids. Sometimes dads are so proud of their kids that it becomes really becomes pride in themselves about what a great parent they are. I know that sometimes I worried more with what others thought of me than I did making sure I was using these moments to teach my kids things about life. I struggled when these moments weren't convenient for me or if they were too public. My dad seemed to be able to really do things for me. This is a good lesson for me and I really appreciate it.
This ability he had was very costly. Their oldest son died at 19 years of age. Anyone who's lost a child knows how terribly difficult it is. But through the heartache, I think what emerged was a father who gained the wisdom of what is really important in life. The wisdom to know the difference between things that really matter, and things we seem to care so much but are really just trivial. A mentor of mine told me this, "typically wisdom comes from experience, and experience is usually painful."
The clown video made me think back and smile about the story of the time when my dad was going to show the neighborhood kids how to do a standing back flip. He used to tell me how he could do all kinds of things in his youth! He got about half way over and then landed on his head! He injured his neck and had trouble with that for years! It happened when I was so young I can't remember it. But my family remembered it and repeated it to him often! :-) While it happened before I have memories, I did see the results of it often. He had this crazy contraption that would pull on his head while he was laying flat on his back. Sometimes he'd even sleep with this thing on!!! All I remember is how crazy it looked and how much I liked to play with the metal weight that created the tension. I pretended it was a shot put! Of course, later I pretended I was Bruce Jenner.
My dad tried lots of different things for me. He never dressed up like a clown, but he spent countless hours with me doing my stuff and he helped me learn and develop as a man of God. He's been gone about two years now.
I miss being with my dad. I miss talking to him. I wish he could see my family now. I treasure all the lessons he shared with me about life and love.
Happy Father's Day Dad. I love you. See you again someday...
1 comment:
Jim, Thanks for sharing your thoughts about our Dad. He was such a wonderful father...we all three think that about him...but in different ways. Since you and Joe are 17 and 19 years younger than I am, we experienced Dad at different times in his life. Robby and I had a busy dad, he was young and involved in so much. You and Joe had an older dad who had already been through much and he knew what truly counted. But either way, Dad was a man to look up to. He was a man of his word and you could always depend on him. I love him and miss him, especially today, Father's Day.
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