Happy Fathers Day, Dad...

I've loved this guy all my life. He always made me feel safe. He taught me much about life and love. He chased away boys when he thought I was still too young for their attention. He showed me the wonder of the outdoors and nature. He taught me there wasn't anything I couldn't do. He set the standard by which all the future men in my life would be measured.

Dad chose a career in education. A career which supported six children and a wife. But his career was something he was born to. Even during my childhood summers when many other teachers would enjoy their time off, he would teach outdoor science classes. Classes I loved to take every year. His eldest daughter, trekking waist-deep through mucky marshes in search of helgramites (which are the larvae of dobsonflies); sitting under oak trees eating our lunch together; and taking my first bite of the fruit of the otherwise poisonous mayflower plant (something to sustain you if lost in the forest, but not something to augment one's evening fare). There were many other students in those classes, but I remember those summers fondly, mainly because I spent them with my father.

He's been one of my biggest fans and greatest critics. He loves me and we can have fun together, but he can also be passionately angry with me (though thankfully, not often). As I've grown older, we share stories of motorcycle rides or our latest interests or adventures. Like his father before him, he can "spin a tale", and Handsome reminds me when my genetics take over and I get too far afield in recounting (read "embellishing") some past event.

The strong woman I have become is most certainly attributable in great part to the two men I have loved the longest...Handsome, of course (whom I have loved over half of my life), but first, my father, Lydell. The first man to cuddle me, tell me he loved me, pick me up when I fell, tell me that the young man who just made me cry wasn't good enough for me anyway, and teach me that I could accomplish anything in my life.

Today, Father's Day, I honor you Dad. I hope your day is filled with people you love and things that bring you happiness. I'll be thinking of you and wishing we could spend this day together.
Love always, Your First Child