Happy Padre's Day!

I failed to send a card. Again. I meant to-- I just can never find one that says what I want it to say, and then I kept thinking I had plenty of time to find The Card. But then next thing I knew, it was Saturday and there was no way to get a card from Cape Cod (where I was when I realized the date) to Maryland.

I called my dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day. But how do you tell your dad on the phone on the designated Hallmark day that he means the world to you-- without being incredibly cheesy and cliche? (This is actually one of the problems I have with sending cards, too. I want to tell him he's The Best Dad in the World because I really believe that-- not just because those are the Hallmark cards being featured this month.

My dad reads my blog (of course he does-- he's The Best Dad in the World; how could he not read his only daughter's blog?), so now he will know that there isn't a card in the mail, and that Tim is, in fact, the responsible child (he's the only one of the three of us that thought ahead). But I also want him to know this--

I think my dad is pretty cool. Anyone who's had him as a math teacher will know that he is one of the cheesiest, corniest joke-tellers in the world. And he cracks himself up, which makes it even better. But he's also one of the best teachers in the world-- not just of math, but of hanging drywall, and living for God and loving people. He doesn't just talk about these things; he lives them.

He is an amazing source of advice. Somehow life just makes more sense when I talk to my dad. One of my favorite things to do is to sit on the couch in his office with a cup of coffee, Lucy and Dakota curled up at our feet, and just tell him all my problems and confusions and get his perspective on it. He talks to God regularly, and it comes across when he talks to me.

He'll do anything for his family. When I was in 7th grade and wanted to play basketball, he helped coach my town team-- even though he'd never been on a basketball team before. He and the other coach showed up with a stack of library books and showed us pictures of what our shooting form should look like. Somehow we won the championships that year. When I bought my house this summer, it needed so much work (don't believe me? Check out the facebook album-- seven layers of wallpaper on the walls and two or three on the ceiling and crown-molding; that's all I have to say about that). He put in 16+ hour days until it was liveable-- and then continued to come up whenever he could take a day off to do more projects. And maybe more impressively, he is still talking to me even though I'm in New York and not in that house. Why? How is that possible? Because he genuinely wants me to be where God wants me to be, even if that somehow proves not to be in the house into which he poured so much of his sweat and energy. (Equally, I don't think he will be remotely sad if I do end up back there!)

He is one of the hardest-working men I have ever met. That's not true.... He is the hardest-working man I have ever met. His idea of "taking a break" is doing a different project. I worry that he literally doesn't know how to relax, but I have also come to realize it is because he is so selfless that he literally is happy to use every moment he has helping other people.

A couple months ago he and my mom made one of the biggest sacrifices I've ever seen them make. My mom's parents have Alzheimers, and they moved into my parents' home in Maryland this past March. Although they have a few specialists and aides come in throughout the week, my parents take care of my grandparents almost completely by themselves. They are making huge sacrifices because they are living out the biblical command of "Honor your parents." And it's not surprising, because this is how they live their lives-- making whatever sacrifices God calls them to, because they trust him to give them the grace to make it through.

Have you seen a Hallmark card that could communicate adequate appreciation for this kind of dad?

Me neither.

Happy Father's Day, Padj. I love you.