dad

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Dad, I just wanted to express my sincere gratitude once again for all the great things you have done for me over the years. I don’t talk about these things all the time, but I do think about them quite a bit.  And I like to come back to this list from time to time to remember and reflect.   These are in no order, just random thoughts of my great past and you making them all happen! I’m going to add a few more as well, there are so many things.

Thanks for being a real dad, who cares so much for my health, and overall well being.

Thanks for making sure I went to college and for letting me decide what curriculum to take.

Thanks for paying for my college after I got good grades.

Thanks for trusting me and letting me stay out late at night.

Thanks for making sure I stayed on the straight and narrow by disciplining me when I did wrong, and making sure I understood right from wrong.

Thanks for taking us on vacations every year, they were always fun and I remember every one of them. Thanks for making sure we always had fun things to do on those vacations. Thanks for trusting me, and letting me drive the Montego on the highway, one vacation, when I had a new license.

Thanks for trusting me and letting me go on my cross country trip with Pete, that was the perfect time to do it and it opened my mind up immensely. That could never be replicated today.

Thanks for letting us have a pool when we were kids even though you don’t even really like to swim.

Thanks for swimming with the boys and even playing tag at Staatsburg, again even though you don’t like to swim.

Thanks for teaching me all about mechanics and challenging me to big scary tasks like rebuilding an automatic transmission, a feat not too many people can claim. That made me realize I could to anything as long as I had a procedure, had confidence, took my time, and used the proper tools.

Thanks for teaching me how to shoot a gun, while properly respecting them and knowing all the safety rules. Thanks for teaching me how to defend myself. Thanks for all the fun times shooting.

Thanks for teaching me so much that I had the confidence to rebuild that 302 with no help at all. I still remember the day I turned the key and it ran, it felt sooo good, and this is totally because of you!

Thanks for bailing me in the most difficult part of my life.

Thanks for being so close and good to mom, always doing the little things she wanted right away, all those custom things you did for her that made her so proud — she always told everyone.

Thanks for being generous with my sons. Thanks for building the fort, they will always remember that, it was something very special.

Thanks for having them build 2 ponds at the country, that was neat.

Thanks for being in my conscience and talking to me on the hundreds of times I worked on my cars, or did anything, when you were not even there. I always hear your advice in my conscience, it’s the craziest thing but it works every time so I can accomplish any mechanical task, I can hear your logic and can make it through any challenge.

Thanks for being frugal and smart and doing things yourself to save money, which gave you and mom a strong base in your senior years, no Lowes food store work needed for my dad!

Thanks for hauling that big toy chest on top of your car, all the way from New Mexico, filled with Christmas presents, that was neat.

Thanks for buying the country so we could have an escape point, I still remember so much about that place, I will have remembrances of that place forever. I remember all the barns and chicken coup and everything that was there initially, everything is so vivid, it was very exciting.

Thanks for building those shelves in the garage, I’m sure they probably helped sell that house.

Thanks for putting up with me.

Thanks for making those long hauls from New Mexico so many times, after my own drive there I realized how big an investment in time and energy that is.

Thanks for taking Marylou’s Chevy and making a hot rod out of it, that you let me rip all over the property long before I was eligible to have a license. That was a high point for me, I felt very special about that and to this day since you trusted me, and I believe helped me in my overall driving skills.

Thanks for the weight loss challenge, I probably would not have lost all that weight, and might be big as a cow now if not for that. It is inspiring.

Thanks for helping me make money selling weight loss crap on the internet, the before and after pictures made it work, which I would not have had without your incentive.

Thanks for helping me get my picture in USA today, and article in the NY times, again due to my weight loss that you clearly inspired.

Thanks for letting mom stay at home all our lives, instead of working, so that she could take care of us in the best way possible. It always impressed me to the point I did the same, and I do believe it helped my sons become good men.

Thanks for getting after me if my school grades slipped because you knew the value of good grades and how they could, and did, help me in life.

Thanks for not trying to convince me to stay in Hamburg when I was offered the job at IBM across the state, and for having the confidence that I could make it on my own.

Thanks for loving my sons. And worrying about their health and financial future as well.

Thanks for making sure me and my sisters stay close, and being concerned of any rift. Someday long in the future I might be the only man in their lives, and I will be there for them because you’ve kept us close all these years.

Thanks for all the fun times at the county. I repeat as there were so many memories, even the drive there! You taught me that driving in the city is more dangerous than the country!

Thanks for making me confident that I can get myself very healthy again and forever.

Thanks for teaching me how to restore and do auto body work on an automobile. And pushing me to ‘just do it’. I still remember the first time you turned the spray gun over to me on the blue galaxy, I was scared to death. But I did it, and have painted a handful of cars since then with little apprehension. That’s amazing. I could do it again right now.

Thanks for all the family hikes, they were fun, even the time we kinda got lost at chestnut ridge, I remember when we came out, that was cool. You taught us to keep cook and our head and we did.

Thanks for making mom so happy and for taking care of her the way you did. You were a trooper with her in the last months, caring for her like a nurse, instead of dumping her in a hospital or wherever, as so many people do when that kind of terrible thing happens. She was really at peace.

Thanks for the timeshare, and all the great memories that have already come of it, and all the future memories that will come.

Thanks for letting us each have our own Christmas tree the year you added the addition.

Thanks for loving and playing with Pisan, and for all the times you took such good care of him.

Thanks for all the many generous gifts over the years. So so many. Thank you.

Thanks for encouraging me to join the scouts with Bob. W. It was a fun troop, mostly doing camping and fun stuff, unlike other troops that did boring stuff.

Thanks for making sure I went on the canoe trip down the Delaware River with the scouts. I was afraid of that trip, they told us scary things, and rightfully so, but it turned out to be a great learning experience after all, one I still boast about.

Thanks for looking forward into the future with me, and making both of our last years the best they can be.

Thanks for understanding my situation with the ex wife, and understanding and supporting me in a dire time of need and tough decision.

Thanks for trusting me and letting me sleep out with friends so much.

Thanks for helping me and making sure I became a man.

Thanks for letting me have the nice cherry cabinet. I remember mom every time I see it.

Thanks for not being a ‘big talk, no action” dad, instead you spoke quietly and did so much!

Thanks for taking in Louie and helping him become a better person, he talks about all the time.

Thanks for my first car.

Thanks for helping my kids on their cars when they look for help or advice.

Thanks for letting me build that weird, bad looking fort at the country with Rusty. You pretty much let us do what we wanted out there, so it was fun place to ‘let it all hang out’.

Thanks for loving me although I am far from perfect.

Thanks for being so health conscious yourself, you are a model, and you will spend many more years with us since you are so healthy, and that is a terrific gift.

Thanks for the many many hours you spent on all my cars.

Thanks for all the discussions and good times at the dinners at our house, we do like when you come over, and have a good time every time.

Thanks for the brand new Escape, a very high point in my life and something that makes me realize what a very special person you are. I love that car so much, I cannot express it. Being so frugal, yet you wanted to see us enjoy the vehicles, I think of you ever time I get in. Thank you.

Thanks for all the things you have done, little and big, on my houses.

Thanks for letting me know what you think, versus holding back.

Thanks for all the terrific holidays.

Thanks for all of the great advice, and not being horribly disappointed when I don’t always take it.

Thanks for wanting to spend time with me.

Thanks for giving me so many things to brag about, not that I usually intentionally brag, but when things come up in conversation and I can tell people what I have done because of you, or what you have done for me (see all above), it is always seen with amazement.

Thanks for all the skills you taught me, and giving me the confidence that I could do anything if I just applied myself.

Thanks for making me successful in IBM, without your teaching and confidence building I surely would not have been successful.

Thanks for being Pisan’s second father.

Thanks, in advance, for all the great times we will have together in the future.

Thanks for the hundreds of things I did not mention here, not that I forgot, but because there are so many. Thanks for being a terrific dad!

Donn