20 Memories of a Thankful Father

I am a truly blessed man and there are many things for which I am thankful! Some of them are selfish. Some are silly. Some are fleeting. But others are precious. Those are the memories and love of my children. As Thanksgiving approaches, I’d like to reflect on just a few of those precious memories.

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I’m thankful for:

• The time my wife persuaded me to go apple picking with my kids instead of watching my favorite football team play on a Sunday.
• The laughs and giggles, the swings and slides, the sledding and snowmen, the parks and pools, the weekends and vacations.
• Coaching my son's baseball team to a perfect record over three years (0-30). We let anyone and everyone play.
  
• The notes I got from my daughters that thanked me for loving them.
• The way my son followed me around with his pretend lawn mower and plastic hammers when I worked around the house.
• The joy that a pair of plastic high heel shoes brought to my younger daughter upon my return from a business trip.
• The look of my children’s eyes in my rear-view mirror as they awoke on a long car trip.
• My infant son’s spit-up stains on the shoulder of my uniform jacket that were bluntly pointed out to me by my peers.
• Cookie days during the holidays when my wife and daughters had flour on their faces, aprons around their waists, slippers on their feet and smell of cookies in the air.
• The memory of my younger daughter playing in the dirt while her brother played baseball.
• The sound of “Daddy” from the sweet voice of a toddler.
• The artwork so proudly pulled from my children’s backpacks before even saying hello.
• My older daughter going to football games with me before she got married.
• The vision of my wife and kids sitting on the driveway when I came home from work.
• Teaching all three kids to drive a stick shift.
• Surviving…them and me.
• The raw emotion of sending my son off to the Army.
  
• The way my children have chosen careers that directly help others.
• Walking my daughters down the aisle.
• My son wanting to be like me.

If you are a dad, or mom, take a moment to reflect on how the simplest of life’s moments are those we cherish the most, especially when those moments are with our family. Happy Thanksgiving to all! Spend the holidays creating new family memories that will someday be irreplaceable.

Tell us what you are thankful for.