My Dad

In the spirit of Father’s Day, here is a short list of reasons why I love my dad:

• My dad goes to bat for me and always has my back
• My dad tells the same stories over and over and over, and still cracks up laughing every single time
• Even though I lived in London over ten years ago, when my dad refers to my mom, he calls her my mum
• My dad taught me never to lie. No matter how much trouble I thought I was in, I’d always be in more trouble if I lied about it. To this day, I cannot stand liars.
• Which may explain why he only freaked out a little bit* when I ran out of money after living in London for only a month and I told him I hadn’t found a job yet (because I also hadn’t start to look)
• He is handy and knows how to fix nearly everything
• He is technically savvy but he doesn’t know how to share photos. Instead of creating an online album, he sends emails with 20 pictures attached, or 20 emails each with one picture. It drives me crazy but I think it’s funny that he can set up a ceiling fan and use a smartphone but he can’t figure out how to use Snapfish
• He thinks I am still 10 years old and in anticipation of my visits he always stocks up on Kraft Mac and Cheese (which we never eat)
• He taught me how to ride a bike, drive a car, pump my own gas and check my oil (too bad I haven’t owned a car in 10+ years)
• He sends me relevant articles to my career / industry and stays in tune with what’s happening even though our career paths are totally different
• He used to visit me when I worked at an ice cream parlor and restaurants and leave me 200% tips
• When I was traveling around Spain, he demanded that I not take the ferry from Spain to Morocco. Then, he told me if I went to Morocco alone, not to tell him that I went until I got back. Sidenote: I didn’t go…yet 😉
• He loves the sun, and summertime, as much as, if not more, than me
• My dad and my mom used to plan mystery tours — we’d leave the house with an overnight bag and go for a drive that they didn’t even know where we’d wind up (though as an adult I have to believe that sometimes they knew where we were headed)
• About family, he says “you can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your family” and because we have a small family, he always says that “it’s quality not quantity”
• He loves me unconditionally

* A little bit as in if he was any angrier, the next step was for him to get on a plane and physically bring me home. Thankfully, he calmed down and put some dollars in my bank account. It took me years to repay my parents for the monetary help they gave me so I could work and live in London – not the best place for the USD.