Fathers' Influence

There are a number of men who've helped to influence me in my life, but these 3 are the Dads that have had the most effect on me. My Father-In-Law, my Husband, and my own Dad are going to be a little embarrassed reading this as I smother them with compliments (but that's ok)!

Mike, my husband, has the patience of a monk. I know that he does, because I have none. He's always willing to stick out a tantrum just that little bit longer and gets better results for not giving in! He works hard for our little family everyday and is always ready to hand out big hugs when he comes home (no matter how exhausted he is).

Friday night he brought home a kids movie to watch and popped popcorn for our family movie night. Eryn was so excited to have popcorn with Dad and sat on the couch next to him the entire time! His love for our me and our girls is so touching to me.

My Father-In-Law Mark has a very strange sense of humor that I seem to click with more than anything. He loves to throw out random complaints about gravy and broccoli at dinner, a snide comment here and there, and never misses a chance to pick his nose for a laugh (of just because he feels the need)! He's a man who's been through a lot in his life and has managed to keep on going.

Endurance is the strongest trait that comes to my mind when I think of him. He once said to me that, "If you don't laugh from time to time, you'll just cry all of the time!" How true that is. Sometimes it's really the only way to look up from the rock you're stuck under and keep going.

Finally, there's my Dad David. I saved him for last since he's been my Dad far longer than the others have been in my life. There's so much to say, so hopefully I can organize my thoughts so that other people make sense of it too.

I spent much of my early childhood thinking that my Dad was Hawk Eye from MASH. In many ways he was Captain Pierce to me. He sort of looked like him, everyone at the hospital he works at knows and likes him, he has a strange ability to make odd situation funny (or at least make some random comment to lighten the mood), and he always seemed to make things work out somehow in the end.

For many years I was his lovely assistant in family history libraries, court houses, and cemeteries in at least 3 different states. I learned to help people along the way. Fixing copy machines, winding film reels for fragile old ladies, and shelving books were just a few of the tasks that I took on. As much as I would have rather been playing outside or lounging around on a Saturday when I was younger, I know that the love that I have for people who are trying to unite their families through family history (or by just spending time with them) was a love that I had to learn by example.

I guess that over all the greatest lesson that I have learned from the many fathers in my life is that being there and spending time with your family is what we remember the most. The family vacations might not be as glorious as we planned out, but we remember going on them. The family nights might not be the grand events that we anticipated, but we remember them because we had them. The fathers that we have might not be the great super heroes to the rest of the world, but they are to us because they are there whenever we need them.