My Dad, My Hero

My Dad and My Sister at Her Wedding

My dad celebrated a birthday recently.  He is a great man--truly a gentleman and a scholar.  He is also a giant of a man, both physically and spiritually, so I have always looked up to him.  I consider myself a really good gifter, but he's always really hard to shop for.  What do you get for the man that has everything and is so generous with others?

Here are the Top 10 Things that I love about my dad:

#10 - He is incredibly smart.  He majored in chemistry and then went to law school where he graduated #1 in his class.  What's the connection between law school and chemistry?  There is none really.  It's just that he loves learning and was so smart that he was able to master both subjects.

#9 - He is generous.  My dad is always asking what he can do to help us.  I know he does that a lot for other people too.  And I'm sure that there are many people that my dad has helped that no one knows about.  As a kid, I remember my dad helping people with legal problems or issues without asking for any money.

#8 - He is a patriarch.  Literally, figuratively, and spiritually, my dad is a patriarch of our family.  I am grateful for the blessing of comfort, of health, and of guidance that he has given me and others in our family.

#7 - He is a lawyer.  As a kid, I saw my dad preparing for trial by spreading documents out across the dining room table.  I knew that he loved the intellectual challenge of learning about his clients and preparing for trial.  It made me want to be a lawyer as well.  I always imagined being able to practice law with my dad.  One of the highlights of my legal career was being able to try a case with him several years ago.  It was a wrongful death case and the jury came back with a $2.1 million verdict in favor of our client.  I will always remember doing that case with my dad.

Post-Trial Celebration Pic

#6 - He is a missionary.  My dad served a mission as a young man in South America.  He learned Spanish and was blessed immensely for his service.  Then he and my family went on another mission while I was in college.  He had to shut down his entire law practice to go--knowing that he would have to come back and start over from scratch.  He didn't care, he did it any way.  My mom and he were recently called to serve another mission--to a country in South America.  He will do a great job and the missionaries he works with are lucky to be able to serve with him and my mom.

#5 - He can fix anything.  As a kid, my dad's dad fixed everything.  My dad has the same attitude.  I have helped him change the oil in our cars, fix washing machines, do brake jobs, fix chainsaws, cut firewood, fix broken water pipes, prune trees, and install sprinkler systems.  Please note that I've never watched my dad paint or helped him paint.  He hates painting!  Nevertheless, I firmly believe that given the right tools, my dad could fix anything!

#4 - He is an athlete.  He loves and plays pretty much any sport and he has always supported his kids in playing soccer, baseball, volleyball, football, basketball, and swimming.  When he was in the military, he won trophies in diving competitions and went spear fishing in the Panama Canal.  He loves bodysurfing the waves at the beach.  When he turned 50, he decided to do a "Tin Man" Triathlon (Olympic Distance).  But he wanted to do it on his birthday, so he went to the YMCA, swam a mile in the pool, then figured out a route that would be 25 miles and end at our house, where he finished by running a 10k.  He did it by himself all on his own, and he did it for himself.  I didn't really even know about it until he finished.  I don't think he trained for it.  I think that I decided that someday I was going to do a triathlon myself the day he finished his Tin Man at age 50.

#3 - He is a basketball player.  He tried out for the BYU basketball team as a freshman at BYU (back in the day when freshman couldn't play varsity).   In high school, his church team went to Salt Lake City from Washington D.C. to play in the finals of the All-Church Tournament (this was back when Church Basketball was a big deal--not a joke).  In college, he was named MVP of the All-Church Tournament.  His trophy that he won for that has always amazed me.  I'd like to think that I was as good of a player as he was, but that may well be doubtful.  ;-)

#2 - He is tall.  At 6'5", he towers over most people.  I probably owe my height to him, even though I'll always be looking up to him--both figuratively and literally

#1 - He is humble.  He is probably going to ask me to take this down as soon as he sees it!  Enjoy it while you can!

Happy Birthday Dad!  I love you!