Growing up I spent most of my childhood, adolescent and teenage years living with my father. When I had a girly issue he was the man to take care of me. Even now with him living so far away I am in constant contact with him via phone, e-mail or a written letter. As Father’s Day quickly approaches it is a good time to recognize the important men in your life.
One of my favourite Father’s Day pasttimes was taking my dad golfing in the beautiful June sunshine. This year I have shipped him a John Daly Lion club cover hoping that will make up for not taking him golfing. Instead I may go golfing to try to hone my skills that he taught me. Each Mother’s Day moms are showered with gifts and flowers yet dad gets slightly overlooked. The person that I admired the most growing up was my dad as he helped me become a better person each day with his many small lessons that he taught. He taught me how to cook, shop, be organized; he took me to church every week and was a great teacher.
My dad was always there for me when I needed the closet checked for the boogy man or some sort of monster. Even when I woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream he would always comfort me and reassure me that everything was going to be ok, even if that same dream had reoccurred more than once that same night.
I have inherited my love of sports from my dad. He taught me everything I know about sports and I will always be grateful to him for that. One of the biggest lessons that I learned from my dad was sometimes or most times parents are right. I was so excited the summer before Grade 12 that a local senior soccer team asked me to try out. The ladies team was much older than I was and I felt privileged to have been offered a spot on the team. My dad cautioned me against playing with this older and more experienced team. However, I thought I knew more than he did and continued to play anyways. He was a strong but firm father who was determined to let me, at 16 years old, make my own decisions. I should have listened to him as a few weeks later in a league game I was injured and tore my ACL, since then I haven’t really played much sports. It was a hard lesson that I learned but to this day I respect my dad for letting me make it on my own.
History has also been important in my dad’s life and that is another great trait that he has passed on to me. He has a treasure box that was passed down through his lineage and will someday be passed on to me with different documents of the Williams’ family history. It shows the recommendation letter that my distant relative received when he left England and traveled from England to Canada. My dad’s love of history may have been one of the many reasons that I chose to major in university in history.
His respect is one of the treasures that I hold very deeply and close to my heart. I value his opinion and listen intently when he has a suggestion or comment to make. It was crucially important to me that when I fell in love and found the man that I wanted to marry that my father approved and before I was given a ring, my father’s permission was sought.
Even though sometimes I still don’t listen to him I know that he always loves me and will be there for me no matter what.
Although my dad and I have had our many ups and downs over my lifetime, and I am sure that we will have many more to come. I am lucky to have my dad and I cherish every moment that I have with him. I am who I am because of my father and I will always be daddy’s little girl. For all the fathers, uncles, brothers, grandfathers and other male role models, Happy Father’s Day.
