In honor of Father’s Day, which recently passed, I am taking this opportunity to dedicate this blog to my Dad.  My preaching Dad was a pastor to many, a father to ten and the love of my Mom’s life!

In my novel, I write about a character who is a HORRIBLE dad!  So, it feels great to step away from that, momentarily and reflect on awesome Dads, like my own.

In thinking aboout him, these unintentional lessons come to mind:

1. Gender Roles, Shpender Boles!  They didn’t matter in my house. Dad did the cooking, while Mom ran her daycare business.  When it came to church/their ministry, they did it together.  They were a team.

2.  Never Give Up!  My Dad didn’t graduate from high school.  He dropped out as a kid.  As a result, he had to teach himself many things.  It always bothered him, so he went back to get his GED, which took a few tries to finally finish.  But he never gave up!  He learned the hard way how important education was and he wanted us to know it from the start.   When I graduated from NYU the smile on his face was priceless!!

3. Good Credit! Pay your bills.  There was nothing worse than needing something and not being able to get it, because you didn’t pay for what you received in the past.

4. Trust Your Instincts!  My Dad was a great cook, but terrible at sharing recipes.  He just didn’t have any.  Everything had a flavor that you could only perfect by being fully invested in that dish.  Laboring over his pot, tasting and adjusting along the way, over the years had taught him how to season and how to perfect his dishes!  That stuff wasn’t easy to teach, you had to feel it!

5. Laugh it out!  Many people only knew the serious side of my Dad.  They didn’t get to see the silly face he would make over and over at my sister and I’s command, while standing in the kitchen.

There are many more, but my tired fingers are too slow to keep up with my smiling and teary-eyed laughter as it pours out!

I’ll stop here and say thanks for being my Dad and accepting the challenge to be great! Your joyfulness will be with me forever!

My Dad, walking me down the aisle.