I was thinking really hard all week on how to end the Week of Dad. What was the best story I knew? What was the best advice I ever got from him? Everyone has had their favourite Dad-ism (I’ll try to list most of them!) but as for advice, I think that the most important things I learned from him, I didn’t learn from him telling me, but I learned by example:
Family is important, and when family needs something, you do it/get it/say it. No whining, no complaining, no bartering. You shut up and deliver, because they are your family.
Treat your closest friends like they are family.
Have fun with your family and friends.
What someone does for a living or how much they make does not factor into whether or not they are a good person.
If you only raise your voice once in a while, people will stop and listen when you do.
Make sure you save some money in the bank for rainy days
Play when you can (especially with kids! – Dad played with us alot, and he played with my nephews too)
Be nice to people
You can frame, drywall and paint yourself, but always get a professional to plaster and tape (okay, so that one is not sappy and sentimental, but it’s true! Taping well is a hard job!)
Work hard and take pride in your work.
I’m sure there’s more that I don’t even realize I learned, but those are the things that stick out the most.
For my friends and family, if you have a dad-ism you don’t see here, put it in the comments!
More Dad-isms:
When you tell me things like this, it’s like a bullet in my head [Said to Jenge when she was 16 after she told him she had a crush on the courtesy clerk at Safeway, who was very cute, but really dumb]
Listen . . . [said in a deep serious tone, and with a finger point, and then followed by the World according to Dad]
How you fixin’? [for money – it was his way of asking if we needed any]
Merry Christmas, Brandi [Said to the dog as he dropped large hunks of meat on a piece of tinfoil that he carefully folded up as a plate and set on the ground]
Something between here [my dashboard] and here [my engine] is no connected. [Which is how he explained to me why my check engine light was always on]
I know what he is thinking, he is thinking ‘That Goddamn Greek is still there.’ [part of his toast at my sister’s wedding]
Split-bannanas, Berry-Knots Farm, Torture 86
We go for schvimming [Dad learned english from german and sometimes you still heard a little bit of the german]
Nice to know you still alive! [said when we finally called home after not calling for a few days]
Slow, eh, slow [repeated MANY times whenever one of the kids was using the video camera]
Look at all the cars you hit!! [said when we drove over the yellow lines in the parking lot while he was teaching us to drive]
Well done, sis, well done.
wise words to live by and hold in your heart forever.
Margarita, I can’t tell you how much your week of Dad touched me. Your posts made me smile, laugh, cry. I know your Dad is smiling down on you overwhelmed by his pride in you.