Father’s Day, the day that we honor our fathers and celebrate with them. They day that all people who are considered Fathers get to enjoy a gift of some kind from their family. Maybe its a beer at the bar in town. Or a trip out on the boat for a nice long fishing father and kid friendship relived. Could be that you get a card made from your favorite person. Whatever it is, it is usually a gift of some kind and if it’s a good or bad gift, well I guess it depends on who you raised.
This year we already kicked off father’s day with a blast. We had the Father’s day Run down here in sunny side Florida and it started around 6:30 p.m. Along with opening the store at my part time job, I got around six hours of sleep in total, I also had to immediately go to the race once I got home and changed into proper gear. In honestly, I was so exhausted and not looking forward to this run. My legs were cramping up a little bit when I was at work and I thought that would make me way slower then I wanted to be. The sky was cloudy which was nice....until the sun came out. Then the humidity came with the heat for a little while and I thought that we would all become eggs on a sidewalk. Lastly we had this route that was so straightforward that I was sure I would die from boredom. Honestly I wanted to go to bed right there but I wanted to try and be a good sport so I ran the race with my father.
Once the race started I felt like the actual run went quickly but I felt like my physical self was dragging behind mile by mile. At one point I really wanted to stop and just not keep going but somewhere inside of me I heard the army side of myself that I only use in exercising situations and just cursed the rest of the way to the finish line with just my thoughts alone. Really became the ending drive that made me finish up quicker than the rest of the race. When the race was over we stayed around and chatted with others of the running community. There was even a puppy that we all got to meet and play with. Up for adoption and just beautiful. The people were also very nice and enthusiastic about her. Wonderful pairing for her to take after. From there we waited while they made the finalization on the results. I chatted with this lady about Spain, the beach, art, her grandkids, her family members passing away, my blog, to then being interrupted by the results being ready for the public. They quickly went through the masters and grandmasters and to both of our surprises my Dad got Master. At first we didn’t hear him, the area was so loud with people talking that hearing someone on a mic was pretty close to non-realistic. When he finally realized it was him and got the prize we both waited anxiously to hear my name, to see if I did indeed win anything and before I knew it, bam my name was in First Place for my age group.
Really both of us walked away with total surprises. We just didn’t see us placing so well and yet we got the prizes to show for it. Great start to a great celebration. Of course it is now father’s day and I sadly don’t have much to give this year. Really I just wanted to tell you how much he inspired me and how I think he is one of the few people in the world I respect. He knows so much about the world and I may not agree with everything he says, or like some flavors of cheese he eats, and get annoyed when he takes fifteen minutes to get to a point in a story (only sometimes) but, despite his flaws I think he is going to make it the way he wanted to make it. No tricks, no flash of a light, no fireworks and candy, just exactly the way he wanted it. Complete in a way that makes him feel good. For me these past few years have been difficult for me to go through and we both fought a lot but, were still here and I still respect and love him. He may be an old fart but he does ok at teaching me something new and is decent at air hockey and for that I can respect his ways and his character.
Really I guess that’s all any parent can ask for, Happy Father's Day Dad!
