Father's Day

Happy Fathers day!
We basically celebrate my husband being the father to our three children. My children surprised him homemade gifts and a gift card to Barnes and Noble. He loves books!! We made him a special breakfast (continental style) and dinner. (Cheese Manicotti with chocolate ice cream for dessert)
He is a great Dad and Father!!!



My father died back in January of 2003 from Pancreatic Cancer among other things. I miss him, but I will be honest, he was never much of a father. He basically stopped "spending time" with the family in about 1970. His clients, job, and drinking became his best friends. He wasn't very pleasant to be around. His language was foul. It would make me uncomfortable. He did family stuff if he was forced to, but he would prefer to spend his time with his friends and drinking buddies. I don't have too many memories of him. He wasn't around much. He would be there in the morning before he went to work. My mother and he had a business together and so he came in for work. He would be home for Christmas long enough to open presents and then he would leave to be with his clients or off with his friends. Thanksgiving was spent with his family so he had to go to that. We normally saw him that whole day. He didn't talk to us much. My mom tried to save the family by having us meet up with him on Sundays (1971-1981) to ride the horses and to work at our property in Summit County, UT. The work we did was for his friends. He went on horseback rides with his friends, not his family. He wanted to "show off" and have Rodeos and Demolition Derbies. That is how our money was spent. Building and painting an arena, fences, pavilions, picnic tables, bleachers, rodeo shoots, a barn, gates, etc. We put on quite a few rodeos and demolition derbies. (we were the crew) My mom did compete in the rodeos and my brother in the demolition derbies. Like I said before, it was all for his friends. We would have preferred to go camping, fishing, snow mobiling, and hunting like when we were young. I would have liked him to be home for Christmas and on weekends. Maybe we would have gotten to know him. His clients always came first, so if they called on a holiday,or a Sunday he went in to work. My parents separated in 1984 and then I never really saw or heard from him unless I made the effort to call or go see him. My mother kept the business together the best she could when he started spending more than he made. My siblings and I went to college on Government Pell Grants, scholarships and loans, because they didn't have the money. In the 1990's , my parents retired, and sold the business. He only gave up the drinking when he found out his health was bad and he could die soon. (great time to think about it) He later got the cancer, had it removed, but it came back and took over his body. I saw and talked to him hours before he died. I am glad I did. I don't have any regrets of "I should have said this." or "I should have seen him." We gave him a nice funeral. His friends gave him a Wake in a bar. I don't know which he preferred. We buried him down in Manti, Utah with his parents and his siblings. In hind sight, we should have probably cremated him and gave his ashes to his friends. Oh well, no guilt. He made his own bed, his own choices, and he will be judged accordingly. On a side note, he and my mother were Sealed in the Temple, but he never kept his covenants, so all I can do is let Christ be the final judge in the end. I asked my mother why she married him. She said he was a different man before he started drinking and started his own business. I wish I could have known that man. I probably never will.