My Father, the Hero

My dad's birthday was last month.  In celebration of that day, I posted this status on Facebook:

I posted it early in the morning, and as the day went on, I kept thinking about it. It was bothering me.  

I finally figured out why. 

My dad has a great yard, and he works really hard to make and keep it beautiful. But that status makes it sound like yardwork is the only thing he taught me. If the best way to honor my dad is by attempting to do all the things he does well, that would make for a busy and exhausting day.  

It's true my dad taught me to love the way a freshly mown and trimmed yard looks, but he also showed me the beauty of day lilies and helped me grow my own.  He taught me the importance of customer service and appreciation of employees, things that affect the way I work on a daily basis. He's the king of corny jokes, and I'm pretty sure I learned to laugh from him. 

He's creative and good at decorating.  He grills the best burgers.  The thing I miss most about him when we are apart is the way he hugs.  He's the best hugger I know.

My dad takes care of everything. You don't have to worry about anything when he's around, cause if something comes up, he'll take care of it.  He has an attention to detail that I will never have, and he doesn't understand laziness.

In the past two months he's become a caregiver and a nurse for my mom, something that is maybe not in his natural wheelhouse, but roles that he has become patient and proficient at performing.

Just two weeks ago, he coached me through taking care of a wasps' nest that had sprung up in my shed over the phone, giving me the confidence to tackle it on my own. (I was really dreading dealing it with it.)

Basically, even attempting an exhaustive list of all the things my dad is and does quickly becomes a daunting task, let alone trying to actually live out all of those things. Basically, he's my hero. Let that suffice for today's status.