Happy Birthday Dad!
I’ll be updating this post with pictures next week- just an FYI. (Sorry if you read this before I caught my error. I wrote this late and mixed up the numbers. My Dad would have been 54 on the 15th.)
When I was sitting in a meeting tonight I was thinking about a birthday post for my Dad. Since I was having a hard time with the 54 things about him I decided to tell you 54 things that I learned from him.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t think of 54 things. You certainly don’t live the life that he lived without having at least that many interesting things about you- it was since I’ve done two of those types of posts in the last week I felt like it was trite- or too flippant. Anyway- here we go. Not necessarily in order of importance. Also some were intentional teachings, but mostly I learned by example.
54 Things I Learned From My Dad
1. How to treat people. My Dad loved people. He was fascinated by everyone and anyone- and loved to meet new people.
2. He also never forgot a person. I learned how important it made people feel when you not only remembered there name but several things about them when you saw them 10 years later.
3. How to build a proper campfire. Some hints, it doesn’t involve lighter fluid or paper and you should NEVER need more than one match.
4. How fathers should act. They should be hands on, supportive to mom and they should play.
5. Also that Father’s aren’t perfect. But that they apologize when they’re not.
6. I also learned how husband’s should treat their wives.
7. Also that husband’s aren’t perfect- but that they also apologize when they mess up.
8. How to play.
9. How to properly celebrate Halloween.
10. How to properly ’split’ a banana for a banana split. (If you stick your finger in the top it’ll split into three sections)
11. How to put out a fire with a fire extinguisher. We had a FHE (Family Home Evening) once where we lit a bunch of stuff on fire and then put it out with a fire extinguisher. I don’t remember if this FHE was before or after we lit a pan of popcorn/oil on fire while my parent’s weren’t home.
12. How to set goals.
13. How to camp.
14. How to set up a tent.
15. How to tie a proper square knot (left over right then right over left)
16. How to remember which way to tighten/untighten bolts or screws (righty, tighty, lefty, loosly)
17. How to sheet rock
18. Orienteering (what it was and how to do it)
19. Lots of first aid stuff
20. How important it is that girls can do just as many things and be just are just as capable as boys. (As much was expected of us girls as was my brother)
21.That boys are just as capable of doing dishes or cooking or whatever as girls.
22. How you can figure anything out with a manual.
23. How to properly fly the flag.
24. How to properly fold and care for the flag.
25. What it means to be patriotic.
26. How great Classical music is.
27. That no many how many times I hear bagpipes I still can’t appreciate them as ‘music’.
28. That following through on your word is important.
29. That he will come and find me no matter how lost and stuck in the mud I am- regardless of the time of night. (4am outside of Delta, Utah in mud up to the car doors. )
30. How to pray and mean it
31. What it means to be humble.
32. What patience is.
33. How to study the scriptures
34. What ‘enduring to the end’ means
35. How to use a dutch oven.
36. How to work hard.
37. How to be loyal
38. How to be a proactive citizen.
39. To love learning
40. How to make a milkshake
41. That when splitting something one person cuts and the other chooses first.
42. That making catapults out of Popsicle sticks, rubber bands and plastic spoons and shooting dog food at toy soldiers in Styrofoam castles across the living room may be fun- but eventually your wife will tire of picking up pieces of dog food for the next month and will forbid you to ever do that again. That is until you decide a fair compromise is to count out exactly how many pieces of dog food you have and count them at the end to make sure you get all of them.
43. How to be young at heart.
44. How to be physically fit througout your life (I’m still trying to implement that)
45. How to sound like you know what you’re talking about- even when you don’t
46. What a mockingbird looks like
47. What a mockingbird sounds like
48. How to be a good neighbor
49. More about airplanes then I ever wanted to know.
50. How to equally divide a 1/2 gallon of ice cream between 11 people (it involves a knife and opening the box completely.)
51. How to make mashed potatoes. It involves real potatoes, skins on
52. To love mustangs
53. How to make a proper s’more
54. How to serve God.
Those of you that know my dad will ‘get’ most of those things. Feel free to add your own stories. Those of you who don’t can ask for clarification if you desire.
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Good things all. I thought a lot about him this week too. It seemed so many times we came out to visit it happened to be in August and we’d hit his birthday. Then this week again we took our one day “vacation” on his birthday week so it was really in my head as we went hiking at the state park and we saw deer. Jennifer had never seen deer while hiking before and I told her about the time we camped out at Grand Canyon and saw the mother seer with the twin fawns nursing right by our campsite. It was the time we left your mom off in Vegas because you were on bedrest pregnant with…. (Megan?).
But yeah, I learned a lot from your dad too - how to read, being one of them! On that same hike last week Jennifer and I talked about what book we learned to read on and mine was the Book of Mormon, thanks to my brother!
And ditto on the bagpipes thing!
Comment number two from me.
One amazing thing about your father is that he learned a lot of this stuff by himself, because of the amazing person he is. He chose the BEST part of every person he met to admire and to model.
Yeah I still want a Mustang like the one Benjamin Homer had - metallic baby blue convertible with the little chrome accent points in the indentation in the door/rear quarter panel. Sigh.
I had to stop reading after the banana-split thing as I was gagging far too much.
What a great post and an excellent tribute to your father. He sounds like he was a wonderful man and an incredible father.
Sounds like your Dad taught you how to be a great person. ((hugs)) What a great way to remember and honor him.
Awesome dad! Congrats!
I didn’t know your dad very well, I think we met a couple times..he was a very nice man. He raised very nice kids. And he must of been great being that we share the same birthday!
He was the best husband a woman could ever ask for- always loving, kind, forgiving, adoring, courteous, polite … He was born in 1952- so he would have been 55. I agree with the bagpipe thing- but I’m glad for all the lessons on classical music. He would play different CDs at supper and have us tell him what the title and composer were.
Your dad “saved my life” back in 2001. I was visiting you at your parents house and had the worst toothache and was awaiting a root canal a couple days later. Your dad came home from a church meeting, took one look at me and called his dentist friend. He arranged for me to get an emergency root canal that night. I will forever be grateful to him for that.
(f.y.i. I tagged you for a meme)