As I noted earlier this week, I have already celebrated Father’s Day because I am out of town this weekend. That being said, I wanted to wish all of the fathers out there a Happy Father’s Day! This is my first time that I get to celebrate this day as a father. It is a different feeling when you are a father compared to when you are celebrating your father. I do think that fathers get the short end of the stick with the holiday. Though we get a day just like Mother’s Day, the celebrations are not as elaborate. It has been shown that people tend to spend more money on Mother’s Day gifts than they do for Father’s Day gifts. Luckily, I tend to not really care for gifts anymore, but would rather have some great experiences.
I hope all of you get to celebrate with your family and maybe have a chance to relax. I know I will be having fun on my golf weekend, but I will miss the opportunity to celebrate Father’s Day with my dad. It upsets me a little bit because as a new father, I would love to celebrate with my father. Oh well, there will be others. On that note, I wanted to take the rest of this post to write a letter to my father. I don’t share my feelings as much with my dad as I do with my mom, but I figured that needed to change. So, Dad, I hope you are reading this today (Mom, go tell him to read this!).
A Letter to my Father
Dear Dad,
As I have grown up, I have realized that I am truly thankful for having you in my life. Through the ups and downs, the thick and thin, you have always shown resilience and will power. You have taught me how to succeed in life without holding my hand the whole way. You gave me the proper tools to get ahead in life and to create a lifestyle that I wanted. Yes, I made mistakes, but you were always there to back me up and put me back on track. For that, I thank you.
I never comprehended how much you worked to provide for our family until I was older. Maybe it was because I was selfish and wanted to worry about my own life, or maybe I was naive. I don’t know, but I truly understand what you have done for our family. You never sat around waiting for things to happen, you went out and created opportunities. I truly respect how hard you work and the things you have accomplished in life.
My friends have always told me how interesting you are, but I never really got it. It’s probably because you are my Dad, and I have heard your stories before. Now that I step back, you really are a very interesting man. You have done things in life that many people only dream of. Not only have you done them, but you have succeeded doing them. That is something to be proud of.
One thing that I have learned in the last couple of years is what it takes to be a man. You never really understand this fact until you get out of college and into the real world. You truly don’t understand it until you have a child. Being a father is not just about taking care of your child. It is much more. It is about taking care of your whole family and teaching lessons without even speaking the words. It is about lifting your family up when they are down and pushing the family through when times get tough. A father’s role is tough, and you excelled at it.
As a young kid, I always thought that the measure of success what how much money you made and how many cool things you had. How wrong was I? I have learned over the years that success really doesn’t have anything to do with money. I think success is all about what you have accomplished in your life and experiences you have gained. One can measure money, but it is much harder to measure accomplishments. As I look at you, I know that you are truly a success. You have worked hard, raised a family, started businesses, become a grandfather, traveled locations around the world, and many other things that I don’t have time to list. Based on these factors, I know that I don’t have to worry about how much money I have or how much I made, I want to create opportunities and experiences. That is success to me and I wouldn’t be able to achieve that without you. Your passion, your drive, and your knowledge is inspiring.
Though I am not there to celebrate with you today, I am wishing you a Happy Father’s Day. There is not another man in the world that I can compare to you because you are in a class all your own. Having said this, I want to make a promise to you and I hope that you make it back to me. It is time that we spend more time together. We need to stop making excuses and just make time. I want my son to enjoy playing with his grandfather and as you know, he is growing up too quickly. Let’s go get spicy food and go for a round of golf (I am working on my game ;)). Let’s go eat some good ol’ barbecue and drink some great beer. There are so many things that we can do, but we just need to make time. So, what do you say?
Love,
Your Son
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