Home is where the Dad fixes the Stuff!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and for all the Dads to be!

As for me, "Home is where the Dad fixes the Stuff" ~Tim "the toolman" Taylor, Home Improvement.

I once bought my Dad a shirt with this quote on it and he wore it proudly. The joke was that my Dad was great at fixing things but he often broke other things while fixing the first thing! I remember he was changing the oil on my sister's car once and he had driven her car up on these metal lifts but didn't set the brake. The car rolled down and hit a brick wall and became a much more significant repair. These are the things that I think about on Father's Day when I find it hard to breathe because I am missing him so much.

I think I got my deep (obsessive) love of reading from him. He could lose himself in a book and not know that anything was going on around him. I can do the same thing. For Christmas, I would get him a stack of books and he would ask which one was the best as he knew that I read them all before they became his gift!

My Dad was an excellent dancer. I loved watching him dance in a graceful ballroom style with my mother. They looked magical when they danced together. I loved dancing with him too although I never really felt like I kept up. Dancing with him is a blessed memory.

I would say that I did win the "parent lottery" and I was so blessed to have my Dad. I don't think I could have said that always. I don't think I really appreciated him until I was an adult.

So today, I'll look up at the clouds as I think of and remember my Dad. He is with me still when I accomplish a new task, when I read a thrilling book, when I hear Irish music, when I drink a margarita, when I swim with my kids, and when I laugh from deep within.

"Are we not like two volumes of one book?" ~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore