A few years ago for Mother’s Day I wrote a piece about moms. I was thinking about my son and my own journey as a mother, but also about my mom who sacrificed so much for us kids, loved us so unconditionally and helped shape me into the adult I’ve become.

Today, I want to send this post out to my dad for Father’s Day.

It’s really a simple thank you, dad. Thanks for always being there for me, for loving me, for teaching me, and for being an example for me to live up to…

I suppose I have always been somewhat of a daddy’s girl
tagging along to the barn from day 1, riding on the tractor,
driving it out in the hay-field by the time I was 7.

You waking me up at 3 AM to go milk the cows,
Herding them to the barn in the dark, milking, and then doing my favorite chore:
mixing up the powdered milk and feeding the baby calves.

You teaching me how to treat a sick cow, and
letting me help with an autopsy when one died.

Fishing in the pond or the neighbor farmer’s pond,
catching bream and bass and then cooking them for dinner.
And don’t forget about the squirrels and the rabbit gums,
the gardens and the sweet corn and watermelon patch by the house…
yep we ate all that good food from the land.

Then of course, there were all those Wolfpack ballgames, tailgates, and cheering!
No one in our house bled anything but NC State red 🙂

Even when college set me on a different track, showed me new ways to see the world,
and gave me boyfriends you may or may not have liked, you still supported me and gave me space to grow up and be an adult – with opinions of my own, like it or not!

You (and mom, too) have shown us by your example how to carry on in the face of adversity, how to give to those less fortunate, how to make a marriage work and how to meet life head-on.

And now, so many years and oh so far away,
No matter how different we are and how differently we see the world,
I am still so very grateful to have you for my dad,
to love me and let me be me, no matter what.

My friends and family who’ve lost their parents remind me how lucky I am to still have both of mine. I am. I know it. And I am thankful for you both.

Happy Father’s Day, dad.