It's the third Sunday of June; it's Father's Day. I have already written about my father last year and it all remains true. But there is always more to add to the story as we continue this journey and much more to appreciate.
There's so much my father taught me about leading by example including, but certainly limited to work ethic, financial discipline, and of course the importance of giving to others. On the other hand, he taught other lessons by not being a role model; in some cases, he actually did what he was informing us (my siblings and I) not to do. He stressed the importance of education since he didn't achieve higher education (or even the high school level); he constantly spoke about how I didn't want to work in a restaurant for my life. It's not like he had much of an option in his lack of education as he had priorities to his family. He informed his children of the negative consequences to health that cigarettes can cause and prohibited it but yet he remains a smoker. At an early age, he convinced me not to drink coffee by giving me a sip as a child; to this day, he is a daily caffeine coffee machine and the closest I've been to coffee since that one sip of coffee must be coffee milk.
My father advises me to vacation to places while I am young. This is one of many lessons I haven't yet to into action yet. I will heed it soon though.
As I look back at my childhood with my father, I imagine if the convenience of digital imaging was as it is today, we would have terabytes worth of pictures/videos. I definitely received my love to capture the moment from my father; even the outrageous ones like the one above.
In ending, it's not what we can learn from our fathers but what they do; it's what we can learn from their experiences and wisdom. Thank you to all the fathers and father figures on this Earth that make it better.
P.S. You know how everyone expresses that their parent is the hardest to shop for? Well, I'm pretty sure that my parents are #1 and #2 on that list.