Happy Father's Day to all you Happy Fathers!
Let's join and give a tribute to all the happy fathers (including my own lovable dad) who deserve to be called Dad.
What's the first thing you think of when you think of your father? When I think of mine, I think of his smile. He was so in love with Mom, Peggy and me that he seemed to always have a happy face. If you read Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise, you know that we got the disorganized gene from Dad. He threatened to sue us for defamation of character, but of course he was joking and if he really had intended to take us to court, he'd never have gotten around to it.
Dad worked hard delivering gas to farmers who had big tanks to supply their farm equipment. He was so loved by his customers there was hardly a day he didn't come home in his big Standard Oil tank truck without a few treasures. In the summer it'd be produce. We never needed a garden as we were kept stocked in every kind of fruit and vegetable known to Dr. Oz. Sometimes he'd bring home packages of beef, chickens or turkeys and other times jams, jellies, cakes or cookies.
Dad was the Best Dad
He loved to hunt and fish and because part of one of the farms was Bachelor's Island, a duck hunter's heaven in the Columbia River, he was given the privilege of hunting ducks and geese there. Being an excellent shot (Mom said her had the eye of an eagle) our freezer was stocked with wild fish and game. To this day I love the taste of wild goose and Chinook salmon. (The photo is my son Michael, with his son Jackson at the beach. Michael is a fabulous father.)
As I said, Dad was very disorganized, but being married to a BO (born organized) wife it didn't show up in our home. If he left anything out or didn't put his dirty clothes in the hamper, Mom did it for him without making an issue of it. I think she felt the inside of the house was her responsibility and the yard, car and garage were his.
If you read The Sidetracked Sister's Happiness File, you know dad's garage was a disaster and he'd leave his lawn mower, garden tools, edger, tiller, hoses, yard chairs and chaise lounges out in the fall and with the first snow Peggy and I would play, "Name That Lump."
When I asked Terry, my husband, what the first thing was that came to his mind when he thought of my dad, he said, "His smile and happiness." He was a very happy man. I read somewhere that it's more important to be happy than it is to be organized, and my dad proved that in his life. Sure we need to get to appointments on time so we don't keep anyone waiting and it helps to know what day it is so we don't show up at church on Monday. But once we have a watch and a calendar and we remember to look at them regularly, if they're for the goal of being happy they'll serve us well.
Mom and Dad had about three fights in their entire marriage and it was always over the same thing. Dad would lose track of time while fishing and it was getting dark. Mom would get worried, but he'd come in the door with his fly rod and a couple trout, with an "I'm sorry" sigh. Mom would shake her head and scrunch up one side of her mouth with a disgusted sigh, and that was it! Peggy and I would run to our rooms scared they were going to get a divorce and we'd end up in foster care. (Just think how having a watch would have improved that marriage!)
Here's a tribute to all the happy fathers! Thank you for being there for your children!