When I reflect back on a time when I felt truly happy, a time when I had no stress, no worries, a true moment of no sadness, I think of a memory of me with my dad.
Not just any ol' time, but I specifically remember a day when I was just a little girl and we were outside playing catch with the football. We had decided to go in and as we walked in, my dad acted like he was going to tackle me. I remember laughing and falling over in the grass.
Sure, this may be just a simple, nonchalant memory, but it's one of my favorites because I was so happy to be right there in that moment with my dad.
I am a daddy's girl and anyone who talks to me or sees me with my dad knows that. From the sports discussions I can get into, to the straightforward approach I take with telling people what I think, it is no secret who I admired as a kid.
Whenever someone asks me about my dad, I tell them he is my best friend and that is the truth.
He understands me because we think just alike. We can spend a day together doing absolutely nothing and neither of us would complain nor probably think of anything else we would rather be doing.
We share the same sense of humor, mostly at the expense of Mom and Ashley. Dad and I like to make fun of everyone and everything and it tends to wear on some, but what can we say, we are the best tag team comedians I know.
My love for sports came from watching them with my dad. I cannot tell the story of how much I actually enjoyed watching these games with Dad and really paid attention to these games without telling of the time I played T-ball in first grade. During one game, I expertly slid into home plate underneath the catcher's outstretched hands. No one could believe at my young age that I would even know how to slide, but after watching countless Reds' games with Dad, I had the slide down with pro technique and all.
My dad had a hard life growing up and through all the struggles his family had to deal with, he still became the first in his family to graduate college. I always look up to my dad for this accomplishment and it pushed me to work hard in school to live up to what he made possible for me and my sister.
Dad worked a full-time job and a part-time job to support us and somehow he still managed to be such a presence in my childhood that I would not believe it if he told me himself that he was gone for over 12 hours a day.
I love my dad the most though because even if I've made mistakes or failed at reaching a goal he never made me feel like he was disappointed in me. He always let me know it was okay and we just have to learn from it and move on.
For me, Father's Day tends to be just another day with a simple "Happy Father's Day Dad." It doesn't mean I don't feel that the holiday isn't worth celebrating, but to me, it's hard to buy presents to express how much I care about someone. Instead, I leave Father's Day as a day for Dad to relax, hopefully shrug off the stress for the need to support us and enjoy a day in front of the TV by his girls: Ash, Mom and me.
Although Father's Day has passed, I thought I would still go ahead and write about my dad just to show how much I really appreciate my dad :)
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