About 5 to 10 years ago, my dad, for some reason, really wanted us to watch the movie "the great santini". The rest of the family resisted for some reason and I think we ended up watching "keeping the faith" for the twentieth time. However, my dad kept pushing it. And the more he pushed the more we resisted. To the point where we would pretend to put on the great santini...and then the opening credits would start. I think my dad fell for that one only a couple times. About a year or so after this all started, we finally ran out of excuses and watched it. I remember looking at my brother afterwards and saying "that was a good movie". The undertone being "Dad is right, yet again."
My father isn't right about everything. But there have been many behaviors that me and my siblings used to tease him about that we have now adopted. Little things like blotting our pizza with a paper towel, getting to the airport incredibly early, packing the night before, printing out directions to places we are going, not taking food from the mini bar. And larger things, like keeping incredibly detailed financial records, reading every line of every contract we sign, taking a lot of time to find the best or cheapest way to buy or do something.
A word I would use to describe my dad is thorough. While that quite annoying to us when we were younger, and still annoys us at times, my siblings and I have started to realize how helpful and necessary this.
My dad is not just thorough in regards to paperwork, but to people as well. Even though he worked anywhere from 60 to 90 hours a week when we were little, he made sure to come to almost every tee ball game, every dance performance, every hebrew school celebration. When we had to attend saturday services in order obtain our bar or bat mitzvah, he went with us to every single one. He stayed up past midnight to edit our papers even through college. He was our biggest supporter and our biggest cheerleader.
These two plus years will be the longest I have been away from my parents. However, my dad keeps in touch through calls and emails. He seems to spend a lot of his free time researching and learning about south africa and peace corps. That or talking about me and my siblings to anyone and everyone. Even though my parents aren't coming here for at least a year, my dad has started researching hotels and places to go. I'm expecting him to have a full itinerary of the trip very soon. While thousands of miles away, my dad still finds ways to supportsme.
Happy father's day (and late birthday) dad. I love you and miss you so much.
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