My Dad

I love my family. I love my dad.

I once had a cousin say in his "return home from his mission talk"--
How do you talk about a divine two years in 20 minutes.

I have often felt the same way about my dad's life. How can you talk about a divine life on paper?
Every child thinks their dad is great, but many times when they become teenagers they stop thinking that, and then even when they are grown they can really see their parents faults, along with the good qualities. However, I have never had that happen. My dad's biggest fault? His cheerfulness? His ability to see the bad and not let him drag him down? His unwillingness to get angry? How can you call those faults. I have thought of one "fault". He is a pack rat. He likes to keep and collect things, but honestly mom has mainly kept him in check with that so it really isn't even a fault--more like a bad habit--Speaking as one pack rat about another. :)

I also know when some one has been hurt, or has passed away--we "saint" them. They could do no wrong...they were perfect...and we forget about the problems they had or the negative things about them...however...this is NOT one of those times. He was a saint to begin with!

(This was a week before the accident. My parents took my girls to the zoo and enjoyed being with the Girls. I know my girls love their Grandma Minnie and Grandpa G-Dog so much!)

I can not even BEGIN to tell you how amazing my dad is. (I say IS because he still is in existence. His spirit, which makes up his personality, still survives and will continue to gain knowledge and experiences). One night my siblings and I were trying to think of all the times we have seen dad mad. I think we counted 7 as a family! (Tandy I think saw him mad a few more times then the rest of us--so I think his count was 9). That is it! I think I saw him disappointed a few more times then that, but not many. I heard my dad swear maybe 2 times in my whole life! My WHOLE life. Most people can't say that about their dad--

I remember going on Daddy-daughter dates--to a fancy restaurant there they flip the food off the knife into your mouth--to a baseball game--to the movies--To a musical--and I think my last daddy daughter date was to a Swing Dance concert-when I returned home after my first year of college! Dad was great. He did whatever I wanted to do!

(Jack Z, Dad, Lucas, Marci and Amy hanging out in Sanford.)
(One of my friends (who didn't know my dad) in Sanford told me that one year my dad went to the flag raising on the 24th of July all alone (we were all still asleep--it is like at 6:30 or something!) and he just enjoyed being with a group of people he didn't know and enjoyed himself and was very friendly and nice to everyone he met.)

I have MANY camping memories of my dad. Going cave exploring with the Boy Scouts, going to girls camp (and boys camp I think once) when I was too young to go. I remember hiking with dad and as a 19 year old just hoping dad would take a break--I didn't think I could keep going--and he would say--Just a little further--just a little further. I remember asking dad "do you know where we are going?" many times and he would pull out his GPS and make small corrections and keep going. I remember stopping at Hanging Lake on the way to Utah and thinking--can't I just sleep--but I was glad dad knew of all these "cool" places to go exploring.

I have lots of memories of Dad reading. Lots of things...Lewis L'more (sp?), Self help, lots of Church books. I don't have a single night time memory of dad going to bed without reading, unless we were out really late. I can picture mom on her side of the bed and dad on his, both tucked in all comfy, reading away with their reading glasses!

I can see my dad up on the stand as a Bishop, or counselor. I can hear the numerous talks and lessons I watched him give over the years. I can hear him giving me a blessing before school starts. I can hear him calling the family to Family Home Evening, Pray, or/and Scripture Study.
He was truly a great example of a worthy and honorable Priesthood leader and head of a family. Dad worked hard for us, but we knew he would be there for us if there was anything special happening at school or in life in general. He was the first to pitch in after a meeting to clean up chairs and the last to leave after making sure everything was locked up. He was trying a Christ-like man in action.

(I love this picture because dad is really into this computer game with Devin. He knew more about computers and how to work them than I did--and many others my age--not bad! I love that when going through some of his things we have found so many little gadgets and gizmo's that dad has collected--some of it really cool stuff--He always liked to be up the latest and greatest in the tech world and each time I would visit he would give me something. A thumb drive (which was so helpful with finishing my college thesis paper), a computer camera-which I couldn't ever figure out thought he knew how to do it, lots of games and other computer software and just neat things like that. He would always ask "do you have this?" and if I didn't he would either give me the one he had, or send me one in the mail. What a great dad!)

I have many fond memories of dad saying "you can choose to be happy, or you can choose to be mad, but NO ONE MADE you feel that way." or "Are you sure it is Mom you are mad at and not yourself?". Of course at the time I was mad at him for holding me accountable for my feelings and actions, but now as an adult I think of what a great thing to teach your children. We are responsible for ourselves and we can not blame others for our actions and emotions. He learned how to conquer this control (I think alot of it came naturally also) and was able to set a great example to me, my family, our friends, and others who knew him through church or work.

He was happy. He was happy in -30 weather, he was happy in 110 weather, rain, sun, snow, rain...whatever the situation he was happy. The only time I truly saw him really sad was when a man in the ward made poor choices in his life and ended up dying after drinking himself to death. Dad was so sad because he had such hope for the man; to turn his life around, and because, we as a family weren't supporting him because we were going to miss a vacation because of the funeral. I look back and think how sensitive dad was to this man and how selfish we were to put him in that kind of pain.

My mom told me last night that when she was dating my dad she went into his room one time (she was helping him clean it) and she looked into his closet and thought "I wish I could iron those shirts for the rest of my life." Is that not the cutest thing you ever heard?!

(Dad with Pepper--doesn't he look so happy! My personal family has been blessed by this man is SO MANY ways!)

OK I know this is a long post, but I could write pages and pages more. I will end with one more memory. I can still remember (yes I have shared this with lots of you before) waking up at midnight one night to a very loud Linda Ronstadt singing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaCX8YBnewk (with out the Sesame Street characters of course!). I had to go and tell my DAD that I was trying to sleep and could he PLEASE turn DOWN the MUSIC!! Image...how many 13 year old have to tell their parents to turn DOWN their music---talk about role reversal. Because of both my dad and mom's love of music and singing I have learned to enjoy music and singing myself. I can still hear my family singing Family Home Evening songs and of course having Bass (Jon) Baritone (Dad) Tenor (Tandy) Alto (mom & Amy) and soprano (Angie). I still get teary eyed many times when I hear the Song "A Child's Prayer" one of our families favorite. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTZ1RhtK3Xs&feature=related

I will be adding memories of dad on and off to this post I am sure my whole life....but I want to include more people then just my father....maybe Sunday with be a Memory Sunday and I Will try to post something I remember about people who have impacted my life for good.

Dad loved to bike Mountains--

22,000 miles (around the earth 2.5 times)

Not bad for an "old" guy!

(We always laugh that when dad had a "mid-life crisis" he started biking.

He was an amazing athlete and he was always in WAY better shape than I was/am.

What a great example or having a balanced life...)

Thank you to everyone for support during this time.

Love,
Amy