Father's Day

I know I just wrote another blog like last night, but I like to touch on all the important holidays and Father’s Day certainly deserved its own post!

My Mother’s Day post highlighted the fact that my mom always believed in me and convinced me that I really could do and be anything I ever wanted. She was certainly the more vocal one when it came to chasing my dreams, but that does not diminish all of the amazing things my dad has done for me and the rest of his kids throughout our lives.

My dad grew up like a lot of people of his generation…broke. They had a family farm over by Erskine, MN and that was more than anything, just so they would have food on their table. They also built Quonsets and a lot of other stuff to help pay the bills and everything else. The really cool thing is that most of these buildings are still standing!

But my dad never wanted us to have to have that same life. I think all parents hope for better than they had it for their kids and my dad was certainly no exception.

He was a lot like me, whether he wants to admit it or not. He bounced around between several jobs, not because he couldn’t do them, but they just didn’t seem to satisfy his hunger to do more, to provide more for his family.

One story I remember from when I was a kid was that my dad was working as a QRC (qualified rehabilitation consultants) , the same job my mom did for a good portion of her life, and his company had been bought and he, nor his co-workers, liked a lot of the changes that were happening, especially one of the new bosses. He went down to a meeting for the company and before it began, his new boss told him that he better not say anything otherwise he would be fired, but my dad’s co-workers were counting on him to stand up for the rest of them, so he went into the meeting, spoke his piece and the lady made sure that he no longer worked for the company.

That’s where we get our backbone. What’s right is right and my dad always taught us to make sure we stick up for the little guy. Consequently, we’ve become a family of doers rather than sayers. I’ve gotten myself in plenty of trouble with friends, family, etc. for speaking my mind and sticking up for what was right and it’s something I’ve never regretted. Some things are worth fighting for, my dad taught me that.

Thirty-one years ago, my dad and mom, as well as a great group of individuals decided that the kids of Red Lake Falls needed something more to do in the summer time. They set their goal on putting a swimming pool in town for the youth and began their fundraising efforts. They sold raffle tickets to win a car, went door to door, and several other things…but one fundraiser changed everything for our family and that was a “tube race.”

A local family had been renting tubes out of their garage and the group, including my parents, went to see if they could promote a fundraiser to try and get people into town to go tubing down the river and try to raise money for the local swimming pool. The day of the event over 1,000 people showed up!

A light bulb quickly went off in a lot of people’s minds including my parents. My mom was a world class promoter, everything I know of customer service and marketing I’ve learned from her, but my dad was the one who said, this is going to work, no matter what. Luckily they both have some stubborn German blood in them, (as do we) and although there were and continue to be, several hard times, we’ve stuck it out.

The goal of making sure this dream succeeded for my dad wasn’t so he would have something to be remembered by some day, it was so he could create something that could provide for a better life for his family. When I first went to college my dad was dead set on me getting a teaching degree because it was the profession that worked best for us to continue to operate the campground. He wanted us to be able to do both, he knew that life could be tough and that he found something that could make life a little easier for us, but my mom had spent enough time with my dad to know the important thing, the thing that she loved most about him, was that he was passionate about the things he loved, his kids and his family.

That led to him wanting us to never want, to not have the hard times that he went through but my mom realized that he never would have been the man she loved so much if he hadn’t gone through these hard times, that the perseverance that he showed in coming up from nothing made him who he is today. She didn’t want us to ever have terrible hardships either, but she understood that choosing our own path was in our blood, that by telling us to do one thing would almost certainly lead us in a completely different direction…that we had too much of our dad in us.

When we were kids my dad once told us that his favorite flower was dandelions, so as most kids would do, we presented him with bouquet upon bouquet of dandelions for Father’s Day and his birthday…now we spend a lot of money each year trying to kill every last one of them! But the point was that he knew we wanted to show him that we loved him and as usual, he tried to give us the easiest way to do so.

Believe it or not, sometimes my dad and I butt heads a bit. Maybe we’re too much alike, who knows. I think both of us would agree that we could maybe handle some of the situations differently. He could probably give me a little more slack as I’m obviously attempting to become a better human being, and I could try a little harder to assist him as he never slows down and must always be doing something. We’re different like that, though. I appreciate the quiet times, a good book or movie, and just having a little time to sort stuff out in my head. He thinks on the go, and a lot of times maybe even over thinks things. He worries quite a bit about the little things because he knows that if you let too many little things build up they become big things, and he still hasn’t stopped worrying about his kids.

He works harder than anyone I’ve ever known, even though he’s been “retired” for several years now. We would love for him to be able to just relax and travel as there are very few people I know more deserving of a break, yet he helps us out so much that it’s hard to imagine where we would be without him.

I have a good feeling that if he took a much deserved vacation, though, that we would survive just fine. He’s taught us the importance of hard work and I think he’s turned out some pretty awesome kids. I once told someone that I wasn’t worried about having kids ever because I had two very amazing parents who I think taught me how to be an amazing parent, and one day I hope to prove that statement true.

My goal was to be able to buy a dog for my dad on my birthday, but taxes prevented that from happening and a slow summer so far has prevented me from making any giant leaps forward either, so we’ll shoot for his birthday in August. It seems weird for my dad to not have a dog. For as long as I can remember we’ve always had a springer spaniel and although I have one, I think my dad misses his companion Molly. She never was a good hunter…or really anything, but she was a hell of a companion and the happiest damn dog I’ve ever seen, a good dog owner will generally turn out that kind of dog…a good parent will do the same for their children!

I owe so much to my dad for everything that he’s done for us and for everything that he’s taught me. I sincerely enjoy reading, watching movies, and writing for this blog…none of which are things that my dad particularly enjoys, but he does read the blog. I was recently talking to him about how cool it must be to look at our Facebook page for Voyageur’s View (the company he and my mom started) and see that we have just about 5,000 friends and over 1,500 Page “likes,” how something he started is so darn popular now and how I promote the crap out of our blog and we have under 160 “likes.” His response, “yeah but I don’t have to do anything, we just built it and people show up, you guys have to write and be creative and stuff.”

I think that’s about as close to hearing him say that he’s proud of this weird little creative outlet of ours that I’ve heard from him, but it certainly made me feel pretty good about it. It doesn’t matter how many “likes” we get…it’s the quality of the “likes” that matter.

I know that not everyone has an awesome dad or mom in their lives, and I truly feel sorry for that. I can only hope that you have someone that has filled this void, someone that cares for you like our parents have cared for us. Someone who tells you to chase your dreams, but tries to provide a security net in case you fall. People who love you, ones that don’t always tell you, but always find ways to show you.

I’ve been lucky to have both in my life. Amazing people who have not only told me to chase my dreams, but people who have done so and caught them. People who have showed me that sometimes your dreams shouldn’t be about yourself, but what you can do for others, for your family, and for people you care about. Recognition of love doesn’t always happen in the moment, but if you’re lucky you’ll have people in your life that don’t need you to recognize it, they’re just going to keep making it happen regardless. Then one day you’ll look back and say, I wonder why they did all those things for me, I was such an ungrateful prick, and hopefully the response will be something along the lines of; “Yes you were son. Yes you were. But we loved you regardless, and thanks for the dog.”

Happy Father’s Day everyone, tonight we dine on Steak!