Thankful for My Dad

(My dad with our three boys at Elizabeth's graduation this month)

In keeping with Holy Experience's 1000 Gifts, I add my thanks to those of The Gratitude Community. Also in keeping with Ann's post about writing "thank you" notes to her mother--Gathering Joy-- I wrote over a dozen little "thank you" notes on lined paper and slid them into his Fathers' Day card--"creative confetti," I told him. He decided to read them after we left.

Dad is still recovering from double bypass surgery he underwent in Hawaii in late April, and Elizabeth's graduation marked the first time I had seen him since his return from their little condo where he recuperated from the surgery. A lifetime runner, his good health is helping him recover although he still tires easily, and (like his elder daughter) he overdoes it occasionally.

So here are some of the thank-you notes I put in his Fathers' Day card. And I thank God that my dad survived open heart surgery and is recovering well, and I thank Him for giving me a father who did/does these things for/with me. The wording may be slightly off as I'm posting from memory:

193. Thanks for teaching me how to ride a bike.

194. Thanks for taking your grandkids to Hawaii when each turns 11/12.

195. Thanks for taking me jogging in the dark at 5 AM when I was in high school.

196. Thanks for teaching me how to drive...even Mom's stick shift Plymouth Duster.

197. Thanks for always treating us to lunch/dinner whenever we celebrate a family occasion.

198. Thanks for attempting to help me with my math homework--especially those pesky word problems.

199. Thanks for taking us on road trips when we were kids: to Wyoming and Colorado, back east to Washington DC and the eastern seaboard, to Northern California.

201. Thanks for taking us tent camping almost every summer.

202. Thanks for teaching me how to play tennis.

203. Thanks for taking us on Sunday drives when we were kids and for repeatedly driving past "the burned-down house" at my request.

204. Thanks for taking the whole family (all 16 of us) to Disneyland or Knotts each spring.

205. Thanks for making the best lunch quesadillas on weekends.

Extra "thank you"s I thought of while compiling the above list:

206. Thanks for working so hard and providing for us so well.

207. Thanks for all the charity work you do and for setting us a good example in this area.

208. Thanks for teaching us the value of money through allowances earned via yard work and house work.

209. Thanks for keeping up the pool so we could swim every day.

210. Thanks for giving us a great place to grow up, with horses and goats, ducks and chickens, and frequent horseback riding adventures.

211. Thanks for telling the worst jokes imaginable.

212. Thanks for helping me to build the coffee table and end tables for our family room in our father/daughter woodshop class.

213. Thanks for being interested in genealogy and getting me interested in our family history, too.

I could go on and on--but I thank God for each of these "thank you"s I can extend to my dad. Happy Fathers' Day, Dad, and thank You, Lord, for giving me the father I have!

With love for my dad and my Father in Heaven,