Positive Attributes of Your Father

[classylady]

With it being Father's Day tomorrow, I thought it would be nice to list some positive attributes of our fathers.

 

My father died when I was six, going on seven years old.  I have very few memories of him.  But, I want to honor him.  One of my memories is of him swinging me high into the air.  I loved it.

 

Also, I know he had a strong testimony of the Gospel.  In 1956 he was ordained a Seventy by Spencer W. Kimball.

 

I wish I had more memories of him.  I miss his presence in my life.

[pam]

My dad passed away 5 years ago.

 

He was one of the most compassionate men I've ever known.  He also had one of the strongest work ethics of anyone I know as well.

 

Ohe thing he taught me growing up was the importance of being on time.  No matter what it was.  Church, work, any type of appointments  He always told me that tiime was valuable and don't waste another's time by being late.He always said leave plenty early because you just never know what might happen between point A and B.

 

My dad had this thing about lecturing us when we did something wrong. Sometimes they went for 1-2 hours. As we got older we finally just told my dad that he should number his lectures and save us all some time. He could just it was lecture number 138.

 

He had a very strong testimony of the gospel and fulfilled any calling given with everything that he had.

 

I miss him terribly. I miss his airplane stories (he was a Naval aviator).

[Palerider]

My Dad wasn't active until the last 1-2 yrs of his life...he passed in 1992. He never missed work and always went to work when he was sick or even if he had back pain.

[Jenamarie]

My dad was "Mr. Mom". He did the cooking and the cleaning, the chauffeuring to activities, took us kids to the library, the park, on hikes, read us bedtime stories with silly voices, made the cupcakes we took to school on our birthdays, I remember him teaching me how to hand wash a drinking glass so it wouldn't break when I was about 8 or so. And all this when he was only home 3 days out of the week because his job was 2.5 hours from where we lived. He also looked a lot like Christopher Reeve, so we sometimes called him Superman. He'd earned it.

[Maureen]

My dad would occasionally bake but the only thing that he really knew how to bake was matrimonial cake (aka date cake). I remember him telling me the secret for making a successful cake was to make sure the date mixture did not touch the side of the pan.

 

My dad was more of a home body, but really enjoyed it when we had company, when people would come to our house to visit and socialize. But there were a couple of places in town that he would always like to visit for an outing.  Al Oeming's Game Farm (doesn't exist anymore) and Storyland Valley Zoo (now known as the Valley Zoo). My dad worked for the Parks and Rec Dept for the city and he planted flower beds in Laurier Park, which was right next door to the Valley Zoo. So there were those occasions when we could also admire his handy work.

 

M. 

[Guest]

My dad was always kind and patient. I can't remember him ever yelling at me. He showed his love by doing for us. When I was in high school he would start my car in the mornings and scrape the windows to make sure I was warm and safe, even though school was only a few miles away. He would get a bubble gum ball in the candy machine at work and leave half of it on his desk, knowing fully that one of us would find it and eat it. 

 

He's not a man of means and never has been, but he's generous with what he has. He took good care of us. 

 

We almost lost him 10 years ago. I am thankful my kids know him. He's still generous with his love, hugs, and laugh. 

[Guest]

I lost my dad last year.  I miss him like crazy.

 

Family was very important to him.  He travelled all over the world to visit family.  He has a thick address book of everybody in the family.  He was big on family trees and if you have a drop of blood relating you to that tree you're family.  And, he has family who doesn't even appear on the family tree - "his grandmother and my grandmother were classmates in 1st grade!  We're family!"... he maintains a good relationship with all these people.

 

Education is also very important to him.  He believes that everybody can get an A.  All it takes is effort.  Some get it easier, others have to work harder, some might have to go to a different school or teacher, but everybody can get an A.  So, if any of his kids come home with less than an A, you get punished for being lazy.  I was in 1st grade when I came home with 1/10 quiz.  It was less than, greater than, equal to test.  For some reason, I put > for less than and < for greater than, so the only thing I got right was =... when it would have been perfect score.  I tried to reason with my dad but he says... your putting the wrong symbol is part of that learning.  You failed that learning.  I didn't get dinner that night.  All his kids graduated with honors and went on to get university degrees.  Those degrees have catapulted us into good, stable careers...  All of us.  So yeah, I bucked my dad's discipline and gave him grief the entire time, but yeah, I'm reaping the rewards even today...

 

My dad was also a great husband to my mom.  He has this strict sense of "responsibilities".  This is his responsibility, that is my mom's responsibility... one time, my dad ran out of clean socks.  But instead of of ragging on my mom for not fulfilling her responsibilities, my dad hired a maid that does nothing but do laundry... it's my dad's responsibility to come up with money...

 

My dad is not a sentimental, romantic fella.  I've never heard him say I love you.  Never.  I've never even heard him say, I'm proud of you.  Even after graduating from college suma cum laude... But, during my graduation party, my dad said in a loud voice... "I'm not worried about this kid.  I can throw her in the middle of a shark-infested ocean and she'll survive."  That was the highest compliment I've ever heard from my dad.  He believed in me... even when he vehemently disagreed with my methods....