What a special time to set aside a day to celebrate and honor our Dads together\u2026dads in all the different ways of living that relationship. <\/p>\n
Personally, I think about my Dad many times a day. His heart lives in mine. Some of the specific ways I hear him or feel him smile are when I work to be the person I want to be when circumstances are challenging; I can hear him talking to strangers that I’m interacting with (I can hear him demonstrating deep interest as he would say things like, \u201cIs that<\/strong> right?\u201d); I literally hear his chuckle in my ear and \u201cI\u2019m so proud of you\u201d whenever I take on and finish some strange challenge or adventure (e.g. I just finished running my 61st day in a row, and raced one of those days in a sparkly dress – coming in 2nd in my age group). I can hear his stern encouragement regarding working hard and teaching children to do the same; I hear the same stern confidence and committment to respecting one\u2019s parents and others and the need to nurture that. I am eager to open my house and my car and my (whatever)\u2026 to those who I have the privilege of helping\u2026 a deep\u2013seeded foundation from growing up with Dad and Mom. I thoroughly enjoy my children like Dad thoroughlly enjoyed us\u2026 and, because of that, I have become fully aware that liking your children is different from and just as important as loving them. Really enjoying them is so much fun!! And, to close each night, when we go to bed and say prayers, Maya says, \u201cAnd God, please take really good care of Opa\u2026 I miss him. And Oma.. She misses him too.\u201d Just a few of the ways Dad continues to talk with me, teach me, love me and enjoy me.<\/p>\n