Dear Dad – Chadwick’s Father’s Day Letter To His Dad

Hey Pops!!

This is your son here. I'm writing to you on the station's website because...well I was late getting a card out to you and I wanted you to get something in time for Father's Day. Sorry for that. It's in the mail I swear. I wanted to take a second though and thank you for being my Dad.

It's hard to explain how it is to have a father that you admire so much. I hope that I can explain the depth of positive impact you have on me, and how great my respect is for you. I now see that being a father is a thankless job. Growing up, you where the enforcer in our house. You had to be the bad guy. When I was rude to Mom or mean to my sister you were the one I was scared to have come home and lay down the law. There's no enjoyment in that, but you did, and it was the right thing to do. You saw that to be the best parent was to be my Father and my friend, just not always at the same time maybe.  I want you to know that those times are not what I remember most. There were a few times that stick out that I really had it coming and you really brought the hammer down, that's for sure! Ha! But, that's not what I think of when I think back.

As a matter of fact, the older I grow, the more I don't think of me as a kid at all. I think of how I must have made you feel. How disappointing it must have been to deal with finding my bad report card in the flower boxes, how hard it must have been to take our dog to get put down on the one day I decide to actually do my chores, or how it felt to see me drive away from the house for the first time, or when I finally got my Eagle Scout award.

They say that parenting doesn't come with instructions. And I see now that you and Mom where just winging it, and how freaking scary that must be! How do you show your son how to be a man? You showed me by being one. And by repeating over and over the mantras that I say to myself now "Don't act on your emotions""You gotta have some fun" "Learn by doin" "FOCUS" "THINK".  I still remember you showing me that basketball movie, I can't remember the name of it now, where the young boy learned how to drown everything out to focus on his goal. I remember you going over it and repeating it when I was working on anything. It's a lesson that I'm sure you wondered more than once, if I had really learned. Yes and no would be the answer. Ha!

4 wheeling, water slides in Edmonton, acquiring the taste for organ in music, learning the difference between a B3 and C3, you teaching me how to use a circular saw, trips to Coeur D'alene, boring airplane museums, finally "getting" to mow the lawn, fixing dishwashers, stealing your tapes and records, blues, jazz, big band, classical, Sly and the Family Stone.  So many more things that I hope to tell you I remember.

And now.  I'm grown up.  I bet you didn't see that actually happening.  But, I'm still growing and still learning. You taught me I should never stop doing either.  And you show me that even at your age (you know I had to get an old joke in at some point), you should never stop pushing and trying new things and learning.  I can't imagine who I would be with out you Dad.  Thank you.

Love,

Your son.