Dad Memories and Thoughts #1

I have been avoiding updating my blog for the last couple of weeks. Before recent events I had several wrestling events to update all of you on. However I feel inclined to dedicate this post to my dad who passed away on January 15, 2011.

My dad was a great guy. Just like everyone else does with their parents, I had my share of disagreements with my dad. Man was he understanding and patient with me! He was the type of guy that would let you make your mistakes and fall, but was right there to pick you up and dust you off with a smile on his face. I look back on so many events in my life where I can now see that he had to have known what was going to happen, or what I was up to, and he just allowed me to learn life's lessons with his watchful eye. I grow to appreciate this more now that I am a teacher. I witness so many times where a parent wants to protect their child from every harm out there in the world. It seems that this hurts the child more than it helps them. Dad was a master at supporting his kids without enabling them.

One of my best memories of my dad is when we went to Disney Land. I remember how much he was teased and pressured by my grandpa and uncles on that trip. We went on this trip with my mom's family. So there were a lot of us going. However My grandpa Mark had always wanted to go deep sea fishing, so the women in the family had given the men permission to go fishing while the women and kids went to Disneyland. My dad although he loved my grandpa very much and loved fishing very much, he decided he was going to go to Disneyland with his kids. I really did admire him for that. I can only imagine how rough it was being the only adult man that went to Disneyland with all of us kids and the mom's. I do remember that he had a smile on his face the whole time we were there. I believe I was eleven when we went, I may have been ten, so that would have made my sisters three and five. I remember dad, mom and I taking all of them on the "kiddie" rides for most of the day. Dad could tell I was having fun, but wasn't fully enjoying Disneyland. He looked at my mom and said, "It's time for the boy's to go play". He took me on all of the roller coasters. I remember those couple of hours like they were days. He let me pick the rides we went on. I just remember talking with my dad and laughing the whole time. Dad use to love roller coasters. I honestly don't know how he could ride them with his back, but he did it. I guess my point to this story was that he could read us kids like a book and he absolutely would do anything for us. We went on many trips, but this one is my favorite.

This is kind of tough, but needed. I am going to pause for a little while (couple of days).