I was lucky enough to have my Dad for 52 years. This Father’s Day was the first without him, after his passing at 82 years of age. While we weren’t able to be with him this year, his legacy of Fatherhood gives us reason to celebrate every day. He was such a wonderful husband to my Mom, father to me and my two sisters and leader throughout his career as a banker. I am also blessed to be the father of two wonderful children. The lessons he taught me are ones I carry with me in my personal and professional life. I think you’ll find them useful too. Here’s a few Fatherhood lessons to live by…
My “Pop” picked my sisters and me up from school when we were little kids. If school was out at 2:30 p.m., I could look out the school window at 1:30 p.m. – there was the yellow truck and my Pop already waiting. I never worried whether he would be there – he always was.
When I was a teenager, I had a curfew of midnight on the weekends. My dad purposely did not give me a key to the deadbolt for the garage door. He always told me if I was 1 minute late, not to ring the doorbell and he would see me in the morning. One night, I came home at 12:03 and true to his word the deadbolt was locked. It was a long, cold night spent in the garage – I can’t ever remember being late after that night.
My Dad could go to a hardware store looking for nails and end up spending hours walking around engaging people – most of which he had never met. Notice I used the word “engaging” vs talking. He listened to people and valued what they said.
So, what can we all take from this? Regardless of your Fatherhood scenario, I think we can all agree that these lessons are ones we can all live by.
Remember the Dads who are no longer with us and love on the Dads who are still around.
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