Most Father’s Day articles are an essay, telling the story of how a father has sacrificed for the good of his children, and how, now that the person has grown up, they realize how great their father was. I want to approach Father’s Day from the other side of the coin.
I want to thank my three children for making me the person that I am today. I want to thank my oldest for teaching me to love movies and to be able to look at them critically in order to enjoy the art of filmmaking. I also want to thank him for introducing me to the world of water polo and swimming. I remember the day that he came home and asked to join the water polo team, I had no idea what the game was, or how it was played. Over the next 11 years, I learned to appreciate the game, and became friends with a number of kids as they went through the program. It was an experience I loved. My oldest is right. I have lived vicariously through him, I have traveled the world through his pictures and descriptions of his travels, and it has been great.
I want to thank my middle child for teaching me to be competitive. He followed his brother in to water polo and swimming, but unlike his brother, he always needed to be the best at his sport, and he was totally devastated when they didn’t happen. I would sit with him on the pool deck, and try to explain that you couldn’t always be the best, and he would explain how that wasn’t true. Hopefully, he has learned to be a little more excepting of his talents, because he taught me to expect the best of myself. He is also the reason I am writing these blogs. He graduated from school, with a degree in geology, and decided that he wanted to be a sports journalist. He is writing a blog on the Daily Republic site, to help advance that agenda, and as always he has set high standards, and is working to reach them. He challenged me to begin writing my ideas
My daughter, the baby, taught me to enjoy live theatre and reading. She loves theatre and as her Dad, I got dragged to every performance, complaining at first, but growing to love theatre, and being extremely proud of her performance. During her time on the pool deck, I learned to enjoy the sport and the friendships that are made there. She would defend her friends and her team to the bitter end and get out of the pool, win or lose, proud of their performance. I found this amazing. As she has entered college she has become interested in politics and women’s issues. She has forced me to question my beliefs and defend those beliefs as she debates with me. I believe that she’s going to be a great attorney.
My children led me to becoming involved in their education. They came home and told me of the failings of their schools. This led both my wife and I to go to the schools with offers to help, and also to challenge the staffs to do a better job. This led to meeting a number of likeminded people who have become lifelong friends. They also led me to learn teamwork as I worked on numerous committees in support of the things that they were involved with.
Last but not least, I want to thank them for showing me what a strong, loving, thoughtful person I married. Without our children, I might never learned the depth of caring and responsibility of the lady I love. She shares her love and her beliefs with us all every day. We have been part of starting three great people on the road of life, and it has been a great journey for us as well.
On my own Dad, of course, I feel that he was wonderful. We had a great relationship and I learned a number of life lessons from him. We lost him 10 years ago, and I miss him every day.
I want to thank my children, and everyone that has helped us to where we are today. I look upon Father’s Day as a day of Thanksgiving. I am giving thanks for the Dad who raised me, and also the three kids, who have raised me as I have been trying to raise them.
Good Luck
You are a great dad and have helped make all of us the people we are today. Thanks.
Posted by: Jonathan Colomb | June 12, 2008 at 03:21 PM
Your eldest sounds like punk and your youngest sounds like an over acheiver. That middle one sounds pretty cool though. Great article Dave. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Posted by: Jason Argile | June 12, 2008 at 03:22 PM