My dad is the beach KING. There was not a single family vacation to the beach that was complete without a noodle castle (see picture) and the most epic of water balloon and shaving cream fights the world had ever seen.
My dad is the joke master of joke masters. Every single day my mom, sister and I receive not 1, not 2 but 3 text messages from him with MULTIPLE different jokes in each of them. And they are usually themed. A few of my friends from college will even ask me to read them when we skype because those texts are something I (and many of my friends) have and will always enjoy.
My dad is a genius. No really! I’ve been doing Mensa problems so long I can’t even remember a time before I knew what Mensa was. As in, I was not allowed to go down to the beach every morning until I had solved the question of the day. As a kid I used to cry and moan and even coined a phrase my family still uses “I don’t do math on vacation”. But truly, if it weren’t for all those problems and my dad sitting with me helping me solve them, there would be no way I would’ve passed the SATs and made it into college and subsequently followed my dream. So Mensa problems are now ok in my book!
My dad is a culture connoisseur. Growing up he made sure my sister and I both knew everyone from The Beatles to Beethoven. He made sure we took advantage of every museum in every city we ever lived in or visited. He introduced us to so many movies during our traditional Sunday Family Nights that I’m pretty sure he is to blame for my career choice. Oh yeah, and he is the most talent sketcher/artist I know.
My dad is a teacher. My teacher. And I don’t mean the 3 hour long science questions that seemed to always come back to “well the textbook must be wrong” teacher (though he was that too).
My dad has taught me more than anyone else has in the world, some of which he may or may not be aware of.
He is probably aware that he taught me the importance of family traditions, working hard in school, eating healthy and how to take care of my car.
He is probably unaware he has taught me that love is putting others before yourself, to chase my dreams but never forget where I came from, cherish the time I have with grandparents and family, and to always take care of the ones I love any and everyway I can.
There’s a lot I get from my dad: my love of movies (specifically the classics), my dashing good looks, my easily sunburned skin, and my love of hockey, baseball, football, pretty much just all sports really. But I know there’s a lot I still need to learn from my dad and knowing that means the world to me.
I hope I never stop learning from him and he never stops teaching me things, whether he means to or not.