My Dad

My Dad is great. We talk very differently than I do with the rest of my family. We both tend to be a little Obsessive Compulsive and we take life pretty seriously. He doesn't always take my advice, but that's okay, I didn't always listen to him either! He recently joined me on the wagon ride of diabetes. He is focused and determined and in his heart he is confident and self -assured and pretty amazing. If I had half the determination that he has I would be half my size and much happier than I am today. He has lived a hard life and has always tried to be patient and loving even in the face of adversity. He rarely raised his voice to us and always showed us that he loved our mom. He taught me many things that seemed weird at the time, but they are things that have been very useful in life.
How to make a siphon
How to snake a toilet
How to make mental images to remember things
How to practice things with out all the equipment - (dry swimming lessons)
How to read

I memorized T'was the night before Christmas and about half of the poems from Robert Louis Stevensons A Child's Garden of Verses at a young age because those are the things we read together.

My favorite usefull bit of knowledge imparted from my dad is this...
If you spend 5 minutes of quality time with your child, they will give it back to you at least in double if not quadruple. It works, it really really works. Try it. Give them your 100% undivided attention for 5 mintues, no distractions, no phone, no multi-tasking, just you and your kid, and they will be content and happy to play on their own afterwards.

I love you Dad.