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Sunday, June 21, 2009

In Honor of My Dad.


























My father is a man of integrity, honor and great self discipline. My grandparents owned and operated a nightclub. They didn't want him brought up in those surroundings so they sent him away to military school at a very young age. He stayed there all the way through high school. While he was there, he learned all about honor, having pride in doing things right and well, and being in control of oneself.

Once Dad met and married Mom and started raising a family, he had to learn to add affection and tenderness to the mix. I have to say that wasn't easy for Dad. He tended to leave the "feelings" part of life to Mom. In fact, when my mother passed away a few years ago, it wasn't easy for him to adjust to talking to his 3 daughters and son, about our feelings. He would say things very bluntly and it seemed at times, almost cruelly. It was then that we realized that most of our lives, our dad's thoughts and words were filtered through Mom. It took some time and intense conversations to finally figure out that Dad just didn't know how to deal with talking about feelings. He thought that everything should be neat and tidy and in control. We have since, reached a place where if we ease very gently into an emotional place, that Dad will go there with us and be able to comfort and talk to us.

My father put a sign up in our kitchen when I was quite young, and it stayed there forever. It read "The best gift that a man can give to his children is to love their mother." He lived this before us every day. Mom was his queen and he adored her. He loved her so much and we always knew that he put her and her needs first. He made sure that we always treated her respectfully and with honor.

I hope that I honor my father everyday of my life by exhibiting the kind of integrity and goodness that he lives. He taught us above all else, to love and serve the Lord. He was diligent in raising us with a deep faith and a knowledge that God loves us! I hope that I have passed that knowledge on to my children. Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you so much. You are my hero!

4 comments:

  1. This is a wonderful tribute to a great man!Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Erin,

    How sweet! Your dad sounds like a great man. It's sometimes hard for us, as young adults, to understand our parents. But, I've learned, that as we grow and mature, it gets so much easier to accept them and their ways. I have a feeling that you have done just that. God bless your Dad on this Fathers Day!

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  3. From what I have seen of you, you do exhibit that integrity and goodness!

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  4. Erin,

    As I read the story about your father, it brought back memories of my own father. The song is beautiful and I must ask is that you singing? OMG, if is your voice is beautiful.

    Thank you for sharing this blog with me. I love it.

    I have a blog on my web site www.theemptycuprunnethover.com and created a wordpress blog too. But, I truly do not have time between twitter, face book, writing another book, screen play, and my job at the University of Miami, I am exhausted. I need to hire someone just to keep up with all I have now.

    Thank you again for sharing the story about your father and mother. It truly touched my heart.

    Warm regards,

    Cindy Papale/author of The Empty Cup Runneth Over/breast cancer survivor
    gmail: tabitha54@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for giving us a little nugget of truth from your heart!

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