first things first, i want to post this video...i heard this song yesterday when i was on my way home from picking up tuscan's mattress and after the day i had, i felt this song was just another one of God's ways of touching my heart!
secondly, i want to dedicate this posting today to my dad...over the years we may not have always had the relationship that i dreamed of, we hadnt always been close, but there is one thing that has always remainded consistant - if i need him, he is there for me. and its not just because he is my dad and he feels he has to be, its an act of true sincerity and honest love. i call him and ask for a favor, or even when i dont ask at all and he is there for me no matter what. it could be something as simple as meeting me at the store to transport in his truck, something to big to fit in my car or bigger than that, like dropping what he is doing and leaving work to come sit with my kids so i can train for my new job! that is what he did for me the last two days and as i was driving to work for my 2 hours of training today, listening to my christian music as usual, it dawned on me that it has always been the little things that i have desired and appreciated most from him.
there is one day in my life - other than my wedding day - that particularly stands out to me. i was 16, my dad and i had been on the fritz for a while (teenager stuff im sure) and one night he handed me an envelope. inside was a card and a letter he had written, explaining to me the ways we saw our relationship differently. i thought he didnt love me anymore, he felt i had just grown up to fast. i know if i dig through my boxes of old stuff, i still have that letter and probably always will. there was also a necklase and charm in that card and that to, is still in my jewelry box.
then there were the times when i was really little, long before my brother was even born, my dad and i would get up really early on a saturday morning and i would go for a ride with him to the junk yard to drop off a load of scrap. on our way back we would grab donuts and pastry hearts at donuts 'n cream.
and there were our fishing attempts. i dont think we ever caught anything other than rocks (not sure what stream we were fishing in, but it wasnt a good one!) when we would finally give up, we'd pack up our polls and head to mcdonalds for a pancake breakfast.
now mind you - these were not events that happened on a weekly basis or anything, they were just rare occassion type things that have stuck out in my head my whole life. things that were special to just me and my dad and no one else, not even my mom!
but of all my childhood "daddy" pasttimes, my all time favorite was card castles! i had a shopping bag full of old playing cards and my dad and i would build card castles with them that went through most of the first floor of our house, if not-at least the whole living room floor. it was always so much fun putting them together and then knocking them down later in the day. that is one thing that i really hope, above all else, he shares with my kids some day!
walking in the house today, after a successful training session at work, and seeing my dad playing trains on the family room floor with my 3 little boys was enough to bring a tear to my eye, and even more tears now as i type about it! he may not have always had the greatest ways of expressing his love, but i've always loved him anyway and he will always be one of the greatest men i know! i love you dad, and thanks again for bailing me out of my jam today...
my dad (with matteo in Virginia Beach last summer)
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