Sunday, June 19, 2011

WWDD


Ah, the old 'What Would Jesus Do' bracelet... Nice!

Unfortunately, the only thing this post shares with WWJD is the fact that three of the four letters are identical - one letter in today's post has been replaced by another.

Today is Father's Day!

On this day, I submit to you that while keeping the teachings of Jesus (insert the name of any religious 'entity' or 'belief' you may follow here) as the basis for my / our / your moral compass is critical to our national / personal well-being, I ask that you consider changing one letter today in honor of my / your Dad.

WWDD = What Would Dad Do?

The reality is that I ask myself this particular question daily. This isn't a Father's Day 'specific event' because to me - every day is Father's Day.

Why?

Because every day I think about my Dad (yes, you too Mom, but you know, it's Father's Day, soooo...).

I remember the things my Dad taught me.

I remember the things he showed me.

I learned what it is to be a 'Dad' from my Dad.

Consider the following examples of what being a Dad 'is':

  • If you always take care of your family first - 'other stuff' will get done if it's important enough to spend your time on,
  • If you realize that being a Dad (or Mom) is the most important job there is,
  • If your youngest son decides to test whether a plastic bottle of shampoo is truly 'Unbreakable' (it's what the 'Ad' said!) by repeatedly hitting it into the living room carpet until it shatters and showers shampoo onto a carpeted area roughly the size of Rhode Island and you DO NOT murder the child,
  • If you let your youngest son get a dog when he's in High School and then adopt the dog as your own when he moves away to seek 'adventure',
  • If your youngest son's dog escapes out the back door on Thanksgiving and you spend the next hour (although, it could have been longer) walking through the potato fields behind the house shouting her name until your voice is gone,
  • If this very same dog returns 'on her own' later Thanksgiving day covered in mud, wrapped in potato vines, and loaded with those 'sticky ball' things that get caught in fur and all you say is, "I'm glad she's back",
  • If you go on a Boy Scout camp out and your son and the next-door-neighbor kid pitch their tent in a spot (which turns out to be a low-spot) and it begins to pour during the night and the tent begins to flood and you drag them from their soaked tent and put them into your dry tent,
  • If you then move your stuff into their already-compromised tent to spend the rest of the night in because there's not enough room for you and them in your warm & dry tent,
  • If the first time your son sees you cry is at his wedding,
  • If you tear up when you renew your wedding vows with your family present at your 50th Wedding Anniversary,
If any of the above situations apply to you, you are an awesome Dad.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Thanks for making it look easy when it wasn't.

Thanks for knowing when to step in and when to stand back.

Thanks for always being there when it matters the most.

Bottom line is...

Thanks for being the guy I will always call, 'Dad'.

I'm a lucky kid.


10 comments:

  1. Moos.. it took a couple years after my father died before I stopped reaching for the phone when I had something really tough to figure out..

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  2. Moos - Have one I doubt you have ever encountered. Within 3 months of moving into a new home with fresh white sand finish plaster walls, my 2 year old daughter found fresh hamburger on the counter and promptly rubbed it on the wall. Not in a spot that could be covered. It is not easy painting over grease, and white shoe polish never covered it. She lived, but Dad was not a happy camper.

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  3. Ha.. Marine, this could be fun,,

    Lived up in NW Jersey 80 miles of so from Moos neck of the woods.. the lot backed up to the woods, there were a lot of woods..

    One afternoon I looking out the kitchen window and watched a bear across the backyard just inside the tree line, a couple seconds later, here comes 5 ot 6 kids, marching in single file, swinging their arms and singing, they weren't 50 feet behind the bear, my middle daughter was leading, she was about eight at the time..

    .. I hollered, "what are you doing.."

    We're playing follow the bear daddy!!

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  4. I have a mom story. At work one day, my oldest son called me. "Mom what happens if you put an egg in the microwave"? Mind you this was a brand new machine I bought with my first paycheck, an Amana.Top of the line. I, the mom, replied, "it will explode, don't do it Joe". Twenty minutes later, little brother called back, "Mom Joe blew up the microwave". I called Mr Fishy at AFTAC and said "get home first or I will kill him". Mr Smarty, Joe, figured if I put it in a glass jar and screw the lid (ball canning jar) on I'll capture the egg. It blew the lid off and destroyed the inside of the microwave. It took a lot of chores and extra chores to pay that one off. He survived and had dinner with us tonight. BUT I never let him forget it

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  5. Fishy, One nice thing about raising daughters, they don't try to blow things up...

    Since I have a grandson in the house I'm actually glad they took all the good stuff out of Chemestry Sets..

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  6. Grumpy my BFF has a 12 yr old daughter that makes "Joe" look like an angel.

    You are lucky they took the good stuff out. It was still there when I raised mine. I look back and wonder how the hell I survived!

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  7. I was going to let grandson explain glass bending for his Science Fair Project..

    The idea of a little alcohol lamp damn near panicked the school administration.. Wonder what will happen if I let him demonstrate the boiling and condensing of certain vegetable and fruit juices

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  8. Just no mixing of bleach and ammonia.

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  9. USMC how did you find that one out? I was in 9th grade when a boy in my class told me I could bleach my hair that way. I believed him :(

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  10. Grumpy - While in college I worked at an International Harvestor cafeteria in Louisville, KY. Prior to the evening meals, I had to clean (sweep & mop) the entire kitchen. Needless to say, too late smart. Hell of a cloud though. For all of about 5 seconds, I thought I'd just created the better mousetrap.

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