Sweet Memories of Our Fathers

I came to realize a long time ago that a little girl learns how to be woman from from her mother, but she practices on her daddy.  What a joy to spend some time this week reflecting about our fathers and what they have meant to us throughout our lives.  So many sweet memories have been brought to mind again for both Jackie and me this week.
Today we want to share some of those special memories of our fathers and hope that it will encourage you to take  some time if you haven’t already and think about your father.  We know that not everyone has those sweet memories that leap to mind, not every father is a good one, but no matter what he is or was like, there is always some good to be found.  As Charles Ingalls once said on Little House on the Prairie “There is good in everyone, you just have to look a little harder in some people to find it.”

I was a “Daddy’s girl”, I adored my father….still do.  He was kind and loving but strong in his ideals and his faith and I always knew that if he said something that was it….he meant what he said, I could count on that.  I was always proud of him and how handsome he was and how well dressed, he loved nice clothes and wore them well.

There was never any question in my mind that he loved me and my brothers.  And he adored my three daughters and niece and nephew.  He got such a kick out of them and was a very “hands on” Granddaddy even when they were little babies.  He would read to them and play with them and talk endlessly about anything they wanted to talk about and piled them all in his car took them with him so many places.

I learned so many valuable things from Daddy, he was a great reader and a wealth of knowledge on so many subjects, and he loved, loved, loved to laugh…I love even now to remember his great smile and deep full laughter when something struck him as funny.  And oh, how he loved baseball!   Most specifically he loved the Dodgers and Vin Scully and gave me that same love.

But  perhaps one of his greatest gifts to me, my brothers and his grandchildren was how deeply he loved my mother.  I smile even now thinking about it.

Jackie’s father likewise was a great inspiration to her and just a truly lovely man full of character and goodness.  You could always count on Jack Forsyth-Smith to know the right thing to do….very dependable and principled in every way.  He was very charming and made us both giggle once when we had all gone to New Jersey to celebrate the 21st birthday of Jackie’s son Trevor.  The party was largely to be made up of Trevor’s friends and though Jack was always very smartly dressed he wanted to ‘fit in’ at the party.  So he quietly left the hotel where we were staying and took himself out unbeknownst to us and bought himself a pair of what he called “dungarees” ….what you and I would call blue jeans….he had never owned a pair and thought this was just the right occasion to have some.  When he called to say he was ready to go, Jackie and I went down to her parents room, the door opened and there stood Jack with a navy blue blazer, a white dress shirt, an ascot, his dungarees with cuffs turned up, and a grin that would have made the cheshire cat jealous!  “I’m ready”, he announced, “Let’s go to the party!”  We still laugh about it to this day.

Remembering funny stories and touching moments are a wonderful gift you can give yourself and your father if he is living.  Here are some of ours:

(Videographer: Trevor Bryson)

So much of what I know about life, about love, about joy and abundant living, I learned from my dear father.  My Daddy went to heaven almost 13 years ago, but he is still very much with me all the time.  His home is in heaven, but he really lives on my heart.  Happy Father’s Day Daddy…..I love you:)