I have so much to be grateful for in my life, so I would like to spend the month of November 2017 discussing the blessings I have in my life. Everyday this month I will be posting a short article about what I am grateful for. Sometimes life gets s...
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DAY TEN - TODAY I AM GRATEFUL FOR MY FATHER.
Today I am grateful for my father. I decided to write about my father today because he passed away 15 years ago today. My dad was John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris and Superman all rolled into one, or at least he was in my eyes. Don't get me wrong, he had his flaws, just as every human does, but he was the best dad ever.
He had a hard childhood. His father left his family, his mom, sister and himself, when he was thirteen years old. They lived in a three sided barn at the time. He worked multiple jobs over the summer and was able to get them into a house before winter hit. His mother was a cook but she was a delicate woman and was often out of work. He worked two jobs and went to school and managed to keep his family going all the way through high school.
He met my mom and married her a year and a half later, then had me and my two brothers. He wanted to be a rancher but didn't have the money to realize that dream, so he worked for several of the ranches in the area, until I came along and he knew he needed a job that was more stable. He went to work for the phone company, climbing poles and after 20 years he had moved his way up to being an executive in charge of a 3 state district.
Dad was a hard man, and expected us to work hard in school, tell the truth and learn what it meant to earn an honest dollar. He wanted us to have opportunities he never had. He loved my mother with a perfect love. She was priceless and precious to him and he treated her like a queen.
He was 59 years old when he passed away; way too young. The day he died I remember feeling this invisible rod of strength and power coming straight down from heaven, into my spine, holding me up. That strength has been there ever since. I am so grateful for the lessons he taught me, for the example he set for me, for the strength he left me and most of all the infinite love he gave to me. I desperately wish he was here to see his great-grandbabies. I wish he could have seen my book. But I know he watches over me and I will see him again one day.
