Happy Father's Day Answers

Answering more questions with Kendra. 

1. What's the best thing about your dad?

He's super smart, he doesn't care what anything thinks about him and he's super, super, super generous and giving.  He always has been.  He's also been very generous with his time and money when it comes to helping others....especially his wife and children, but other people as well.

He puts up with my mom (who is a wonderful person, but very much a BOSS).  That probably qualifies him for sainthood.

He slaves super hard in the garden so his family can eat all sorts of organic vegetables all summer long.

Even at age (almost) 70 he was helping us move....lifting lots of heavy furniture, carrying boxes.

He may be retired, but he never stops working. 

He's also pretty quirky and does his own thing and doesn't care what anyone thinks,   In the 60's when everyone else was rebelling by listening to rock n' roll.....he rebelled by listening to Mozart and Bach and Beethoven and all those guys.

2. If you've got kids, what's the best thing about THEIR dad? (If you don't, feel free to substitute your grandfather or another father figure.)

He's very patient and doesn't get angry easily.   He almost never loses his temper (unlike me) and is basically the calm to my storm.   He loves to spend time with his kids....playing chess, watching movies, playing Frisbee.   I'm the one who always talks about being gentle and patient with kids...but he's the one who actually IS all those things. 

Plus he's super smart...yet very humble.  Smart but arrogant people are annoying.  Smart, but humble people are great.

He loves God. He loves the Church.  He loves me.  He loves our kids. He loves my family.

At age 32, he went to law school, at age 35 he passed the VA bar exam.  At age 36, he passed the IN bar exam.  And at age 37 he started his own law firm.  He's a hard worker and is always wiling to help others.

Plus he puts up with me (no easy task, I tell you) and ALWAYS  supports me in all my CRAZY ideas. And, I've had some crazy ones.  

3. What's the best advice your dad ever gave you?

Umm....never trust anyone over 30?  Actually my dad never gave that as advice, but it's something he likes to say.

My dad doesn't give a lot of advice  Or maybe I just don't pay attention.   He mostly teaches by example.

I always remember him saying how when he was in graduate school, he had like $2.50 a day to eat with, so he figured out that sunflower seeds offered him the most nutrition (proteins, vitamins, fats) per dollar, so he ate lots of sunflower seeds.  Most starving grad students would just live off coffee and noodles and hot dogs...but not my dad.  He was all into healthy eating before it was cool.

He also taught us to go to Confession every month and to never be late for Mass (that one didn't stick..the never being late one that is). 

4. What's something you have in common with your dad? 

According to my mom, I have lots in common with my dad.  We are both messy (I'm getting neater, and he's just as messy as ever).  We both tend to rush and do things quickly.  We both have messy handwriting.  We are definitely NOT perfectionists.  And we're both good at science.  Well..he has a PhD in Organic Chemistry and I merely took Organic Chemistry (and got an A-), so he's better than me in that regard.

5. What's the manliest thing you know how to do?

Well....let's just say that I'm the one who fixed our toilet when it was clogged beyond hope. 

I also like mowing the lawn and can check the oil and the coolant and all those things (and add more if necessary).

6. Who is your favorite fictional dad?

Carson Drew....Nancy Drew's father.  Because he's perfect.....just like Nancy.

P.S. In case you missed my other post.  The Nun is looking for Questions.

The Importance of a Father

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there (all three of you who read this blog that this). 

Here is a rare picture of my dad actually smiling in a photo (The photo was taken covertly).

See all that gray hair...that is from all the hours he spent teaching me (and my siblings) how to drive. 

And, all the hours and hours and hours he spent driving us here, there and everywhere.  And, the driving didn't stop when we were adults...he's still spends a lot of time driving...helping us move, driving our stuff around.  He's always been super generous with his time, talent and treasure.  Plus, he's worked hard every spring and summer for the last  40 years or so growing an organic vegetable garden so we could eat lots of vegetables all year long.  I didn't appreciate that when I was a kid, but I definitely do now. 

When I was younger, my parents used to take us on individual dates.  I can remember going to McDonald's with my dad, getting french fries, sitting in the car and eating them (because I was too embarrassed to go inside...heaven forbid anyone actually knew that I had PARENTS) and my poor dad had to suffer through sitting in the car and listening to me talk about The Babysitter's Club, or Sweet Valley Twins.  I'm quite sure he was less than interested in either one of those things.

 He put up with it though and didn't even once try to mention organic chemistry. I bet he is the only dad that used to say things like  "Please pass the triglycerides" at the dinner table.  At least we all know what triglycerides are.  

Despite all his quirkiness (he's most notorious for the multiple sweaters he wears at the same time), he is a great dad!  Happy Father's Day! We love you!

Of course, I also have to say Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband.

He taught me the importance of a father and how much father's matter.    There is a trend today to say that Father's don't matter.  But, they DO.  They definitely do. My kids definitely relate to my husband differently than they do to me. Boys need a good father to learn how to grow up to be men, and girls need a good father to learn how a good mean treats a woman.    I can definitely see how things break down in society when fathers are absent.  That's not to say that children who grow up without a father can't grow up to be productive, happy, well-functioning members of society.  Of course they can.   But, fathers are important and they do matter. 

My kids have a great father.  He reads them stories, he watches movies with them, he plays Frisbee with them, he takes them to chess club, he listens to them, he teaches them about God and all the things their slacker homeschooling mother doesn't teach them. .  He is more gentle and patient than I am.   There just may, may, may have been one or two times where he had to take over a homeschooling lesson because  their primary teacher was totally and completely OUT of patience.   

Plus he's a hard worker. He worked super hard all this year and instead of taking the summer off, he is taking the bar exam for the second year in a row.  Not because he failed the first time, but just for our sakes, so we can move closer to my family and better home school communities.   Pray for him please...for his bar studies and job search.

Happy Father's Day Ben!  We love you!

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Now...because I just can't resist a fun link-up...I'll be joining Kendra again for Answer Me This.

1. What’s something you intended to do today, but didn't?

Well, I'm writing this at 10:00 AM.  The day is still young and hold lots of promise for me to accomplish ALL THE THINGS. I'm so optimistic. 

2. What's your favorite grilling recipe?

We don't have a grill (and have never owned one) so I don't have any grilling recipes.

3. What movie did you see most recently?

Like full-length movie?  It's been so long, I can't even remember.  I mostly just watch shows on Netflix.  Most recently, I'm in the middle of Crossing Jordan. 

4. Would you say your tendency is to over or under react to medical situations?

I overreact in my wild imagination but way undereact in real life.  In other words, I'm pretty much convinced that every little thing is SOMETHING SUPER SERIOUS.  But, I rarely actually do anything about it and seek a doctors consultation.   Because most of the time the logical part of my brain overrides the crazy part and I know that I am WAY OVERREACTING.  For example, I actually spent like 10 minutes last night  reading about children that lock their legs while falling asleep because Elsa did that briefly and it freaked me out. Mostly I found things related to horses....apparently horses do that which is how they sleep standing up. 

Occasionally I overreact so much that I actually do run off to the doctor.  

That happens pretty rarely.. less than once a year. Although this year we actually had TWO sick child visits within the span of a month.  That is  a RECORD for our family...we almost never go to the doctor. One of those visits was totally warranted and it's a VERY GOOD THING we went.  The other visit was totally not necessary as nothing was wrong. 

5. Do you squeeze the toothpaste tube or roll it?

Squeeze.  Do people actually roll it?

6. What are you doing for Father's Day?

Nothing super special...just having steak and mashed potatoes and veggies for lunch.  And, then we made an ice cream cake for dessert. And we'll be packing.