Thankful for My Daddy

My dad rarely uses the internet, so although he will not be reading this post, I still want to express how thankful I am for him, especially today on Father's Day.

My dad is not the affectionate type who took me to father-daughter retreats where we sipped tea and discussed matters of the heart. Instead, my daddy taught me how to swing a hammer, drive a tractor, raise my hands high on rollercoasters, and which sports teams to pull for.

(Daddy always made sure I ended up sitting where I would get the most drenched on the Roman Rapids water ride at Busch Gardens! )

When I was 15 and we lived on the Albemarle Sound, I remember summer days spent out on the water and the sudden dread that came upon me in the early evening when the familiar white Chevy pick-up truck pulled down our dirt road. It meant that I had to go inside, change into my work clothes, and leave, along with Daddy, Elliott, and Oliver, for the new house we were in the process of building. We would load up four-wide in the truck and work until at least dark, although when we came under a time crunch I remember occasionally working in the either miserably hot or freezing cold temperature of a framed house after midnight.

Daddy taught us to do things right. We learned to never be caught working with only one hand, doing a job half-way, or worst of all, sitting down on the job. "Work smarter, not harder" and "Es para hora no para manana" ("I need that [tool] today, not tomorrow") became second-nature phrases in our daily lives. He is a perfectionist and we learned to work with excellence.

At the time, and in the years that followed on other job sites, I did not find much enjoyment in construction and I struggled to focus on the task at hand. I could never remember a sledge hammer from a crow bar (I know, that is pretty bad!) and I would actually count how many times I would have to swing the hammer to get the nail in the 2x4. Even after the house was framed, you could tell exactly where I had nailed because of all the hammer marks surrounding the nail on the 2x4.

Looking back, it was on that first job site that I feel I learned the most about being a hard worker. Daddy didn't allow me to use the fact that I was a girl as an excuse for being weak. I am so thankful that he always took me along and taught me to work hard.

Daddy has always challenged me to do the hard things, but the wonderful thing about doing the hard things is that everything else becomes easy. The day he taught me to drive a truck pulling a trailer hauling 2x4's he took me over the S Bridge in Hertford. Only a handful of the readers of this blog know the S Bridge, but it is as it sounds: a tiny, narrow "S" that understandably would scare a young teenager driving a large vehicle pulling a long trailer! But now I am not the least bit scared to pull a trailer because I learned the hardest way.

When Mama and I have one of our many crazy entrepreneurial ideas, Daddy doesn't shut them down immediately, but instead allows us to work through them in our minds and pursue them. If it weren't for Daddy's wisdom and guidance regarding surveys, deeds, land elevation, perc tests, construction, etc., I likely would not have been confident enough in my own abilities to purchase the investment properties I have owned over the past several years.

On Daddy's 45th birthday this past April, it also marked three years since he retired from his job as the superintendent of his company's bridge building team in an effort to be more involved in our lives. He left behind the familiarity of a job and employees he knew well to be more involved with our family. As our provider, he left the stability of a good company he had been with for a very long time and the security of a steady income to bravely follow God's leading and start out on his own. While the past three years have been very different from the rest of my life, I am so thankful to have spent them getting to know Daddy better and learning from him in ways we would have never been able to just in short periods of time in the evenings or on weekends.

This year, I am especially thankful for Daddy's involvement in my courtship with Stephen. I am sure it was outside of his comfort zone to handle this decision. I am equally grateful for his wisdom in discerning that the young men who pursued me prior to Stephen were not God's will for my life. What an assurance it will be in Stephen and my marriage that my father gave his blessing and stamp of approval. When difficult times come in our marriage, I will never have to wonder if my decision was made ignorantly because I was blinded by love.

My dad's influence in my life is the sole reason I am emotionally tough and not like a dainty flower. His wisdom and insight have helped to shape me into the young woman I am today. I pray I will be able to effectively pass on the legacy my dad has built in my life to my own children one day.