World’s Greatest Dad

---

It may be a cliché and on coffee mugs across America, but I believe every father can be the world’s greatest.  My Dad is the greatest to me…  Ever since I can remember, my Dad has been there for me and he didn’t have to say a word for me to know it.  He shows up.  Each and every day. 

When I was a toddler, I would sit on my Dad while he was lying on his side on the sofa watching TV.  I would sit near his waist with my legs stretched out before me, tiny feet pressing against the side of his head.  My toes tickling his ear and most likely knocking his glasses around.  He showed up.

When I was a bit older, my Dad would pull out the slip ‘n’ slide, hook up the hose and allow my sister and I and all our neighborhood friends to tear up his yard.  I say “his yard”, as he was particular when it came to his domain and the yard was his territory.  It was manicured.  One summer, he mowed a baseball triangle in it!  It looked like 3 Rivers Stadium.  Seeing us play baseball in the backyard, he went ahead and facilitated our game.  He showed up.

When I was a teenager, he taught me things about maintaining a vehicle.  I had a small blue Nissan 4×4, manual transmission that I had to take care of.  I drove that thing with pride and back and forth to college.  Make sure to get the oil changed every 3,000 miles.  Make sure the registration and inspection is up to date.  Check the tires for air and tread.  The manual has all this information, but I wanted the cliff notes and he gave them to me.  When I flipped that same truck in a corn field in the middle of the state of NY and called my Dad – he showed up.

When I was finishing high school and working at figuring out what I wanted to do for a career, he asked me what I liked in school.  I loved math and science.  He simply said, “Have you considered Engineering?”  He was an engineer and at the time I was not considering Engineering.  It’s not something that was considered a career for females, but not totally out of the question either.  In May of 1998, I graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a BS in Electrical Engineering – he showed up.

When I was an adult in the working world trying to find my way and make a name for myself, he showed up. 

When I had built and bought my first big girl home, I had questions about replacing a fuse in the main panel, he showed up.

When I wanted to learn how to golf and needed help on my swing, he showed up.

When I wanted to fix my hot water heater that had stopped heating water, he showed up.

When I decided that I was tired of paying people to fix, create and update my home, he called me his Junior Woodchuck, he showed up.

Things have changed in our lives over the years, I’ve grown up but still have a lot of growing to do.  He has been an incredible source of stability, dependability, knowledge and support – he shows up.  I hope now, as he’s gotten older and a bit slower with age that he knows that it’s okay, for once, to allow his daughter to show up too. 

I raise a glass to the World’s Greatest Dad.

I love you,

Your Junior Woodchuck