I'm a daddy's girl at heart. Don't get me wrong, I love my mother more that words can say but because we are polar opposites we often drive each other crazy.
Reeeeallly crazy.
Like real crazy.
For realz.
My dad and I, though, have always gone together like...peanut butter and..
Not jelly.
**thinking**
Peanut better and jelly require bread and that's too much work.
*maybe a slight head cock, maybe a furrowed brow, maybe both**
Bananas?
**minutes later**
Yep. Bananas. Not the green ones, those are too stout. The yellow ones that are starting to get spots in them. Yes. Peanut butter and the yellow bananas that are starting to get spots on them. Easy and sweet, not too much work....that's how my dad and I go together.
If you know my dad well, you are probably laughing already. You see, I have a quality of being meticulous that I get from him. It manifests itself with how I choose my words, how deeply I dissect every situation, and how I want to have everything fully planned out step by step and organized before I even start a task.
If you know my mom well, you may be laughing now, because the latter has never crossed my mother's mind.
As early as I could walk, I was all up in my dad's business. I wanted to help "fitz" anything he was working on. When I found out what he was doing I ran to him at full hobble with hammer in hand, "I fitz it! I fitz it!" I just wanted to sit in his lap and get in the way of whatever he was doing and he always let me.
Even that time that I was about three... maybe five...my memory is a little distorted now. You see, he was holding a rubber mallet...that black real hard rubber mallet with the long wooden handle.... I remember THAT part well. He was using that rubber mallet to pound a yard sign into the front lawn. I ran up, and because I wanted to do everything that he did, I asked if I could try. Of course, he said yes.
I took that rubber mallet and pulled it back over my shoulder.
I prepared myself.
THEN, with about all the strength I could muster, I slammed that rubber mallet right square where I was aiming on that yard sign!
It was a huge success!!
...for about one tenth of a second. Because two tenths of a second later, it was swinging riiiiight back at me with the same speed I had thrown it. It clocked me square in the forehead and laid me clean out!
.
.
.
Laying flat on my back in the yard with the mallet still in my hand, my dad picked me up and uttered these, most comforting, words (as he tried to stifle a laugh, I'm sure), "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."
I didn't know what on earth that even meant, but I was mad that that was his reaction and I'm sure I ran inside crying to mom for some sympathy.
While I didn't appreciate it at the time, my dad taught me two valuable lessons that day: Every moment can be a teaching moment and that and I will never once forget Newton's 3rd Law.
He always took time out of his day to help me understand little things, like even though a grocery sack looks very much like a teddy bear sized parachute, it just doesn't quite work the same way.
Not if you drop it from a trampoline.
Not if you drop of from the top of the fence.
And not even if you drop it from the top of the house.
I have learned many things from my dad over the years but here's a list of 10 of the most important ones.
1. Take care of everything you have. If you do, it will last much longer.
2. Put things back where you got them especially if they aren't yours.
3. Try to leave things in a better way than when you found them.
4. Even if it takes a minute to put it all together, pick your words wisely and say what you mean.
5. It's never too late to start over.
6. You can do anything, even if it's just for a little while.
7. Respect others. Even if you are wanting to say cuss words in your head after they walk way, treat all people with respect.
8. Work smarter, not harder.
9. Drink milk, but when you are thirsty drink water. If you aren't going to drink milk or water, drink a beer. If your going to have a beer though, make it a red beer. ;)
10. If you take the time to smell the roses, you will find beauty in all things.
These ten things have helped direct the path that my life will take. I wouldn't be the same person without these lessons and I wouldn't have it any other way!
