My Dad

Currently sitting at an ice rink while two of my children are doing the free skate (with Santa!). It’s pretty crazy here, as it tends to be in December. I opted not to skate tonight, am instead acting as a bystander to all of the skaters, listening to their squeals and laughter, observing some definite (and amusing?) flirting going on (Saturday date night in Provo!) and witnessing the occasional spill onto the ice (no serious injuries yet). But being here, drinking my hot chocolate that is just a bit too hot but tastes amazing and is warming me down to my core, it’s all evoking some memories for me.

Happy memories, of coming regularly to the ice rink with my friend Nicole in middle school, watching her lessons or cheering her on for her performances (including that one time I unwisely took a huge gulp of hot chocolate straight from the vending machine that was so hot I burned off a few of my taste buds – I still don’t taste the same on that part of my tongue!). Or watching my youngest skate for the first time and realizing she was a natural (she was able to glide on one foot from day one!). Seeing Kenny transfer his mad roller blading skills to being able to do tricks on the ice and making skating backwards and doing spins look so easy. Pretending that I needed to hang on to his arm or hand to “keep my balance.” Hehe.

I also have several memories, from West Point especially, of ice skating with my dad as we were on Daddy-daughter dates. I haven’t talked about my dad overly much on this blog, and it seems high time that I do. My dad and I are a lot alike, even if I am definitely more emotion-driven than he is, not as good at thinking through things logically. We are the two extroverts of the family, both high achievers and like taking on new projects, can both be a bit intense at times (er, make that driven, ha!). And we also now have the bond of understanding what it is like to be widowed, something that a person simply cannot comprehend without having experienced it.

I have always been a Daddy’s girl. While Mom and I had a good relationship as I was growing up, outside of music we didn’t share a lot of the same interests (I did not inherit her incredible talents with sewing, so many homemaking skills that always seemed so effortless for her and I had to work hard at to master, her creativity and patience with all types of crafts, etc.) and it wasn’t until I was an adult that we really became such close friends, moved beyond more of mostly a mother-daughter dynamic.

But Dad…he was typically my go-to parent to talk things over with. I greatly value his opinion, even if we may differ at times on things (and I admit there have been times I’ve bristled wanting to do something “my way”). I still often go to my dad for advice, to ask for a father’s blessing. When I was in high school I don’t know how many times I came home from being out with friends or doing something for school, and I would find a Post-it note with a message from Dad waiting for me on my pillow or my door (so wish I had kept those!). I don’t know anyone who gets more done than my dad, but even when he’s had a demanding job and busy Church calling, was going to school for one of his advanced degrees, I knew that I could walk in and he would stop and give me his full attention, want to hear whatever I wanted to talk about. I’ve come to admire that even more as I now work full time, and too often have struggled to shift my attention away from something work-related to whatever my children are saying or doing.

I credit my dad for instilling in me a love of nature. I have memories of going on our “Cheswick walks” together when I was very young (3?), and him pointing out things like cool rocks, looking intently for tadpoles, or just that thrill of “discovering” so many new things outside with him, noticing and feeling the wonder of our beautiful world. There are also the memories of hiking in the mountains with Dad when we would visit my grandparents, and getting excited about finding fools gold or hearing some of the stories from his childhood from those same places.

I also got my love of reading and writing from Dad. I’m not even sure how many times he has been published or how many books he’s written but it’s a lot. Dad is a gifted teacher and presenter (his class at Education Week this year needed four overflow rooms, whoa!), which is something I would also like to pursue. (And yes, my book is happening….) It was probably also Dad’s example of starting his own scripture mastery side business when I was in high school that planted the idea in my head that starting my own business is not only possible but can be rewarding and fun, too.

Dad has been a guest speaker on many Come, Follow Me podcasts, gave a devotional at Ensign College earlier this year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNk9A8S1Cjs&t=1537s), and just last month he was interviewed and included in a Music and the Spoken Word program in honor of Veteran’s Day. Our family, along with my two sisters and their children who are 8+, were all invited to attend the live broadcast as his guests. You can find the video for it at the end of this post. What a cool experience it was being there! Exciting to sit in special VIP seats, watching Dad be honored beforehand, and getting to not only hear the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra perform live but also a cadet choir from West Point. We ran into people and former cadets our family had known when we were stationed at West Point (including one who taught me in Primary). So fun reconnecting! And wow, did seeing those cadets sure bring me back to memories of growing up (they seemed so old to me then!). There was even a group there from Romania and afterward I got a chance to speak with them a bit, use a few of the Romanian words and phrases I knew, and learn that they were from a city where Kenny served so I knew a bit about it. Neat!

I could keep lauding my dad for his many accomplishments and character traits I admire, but I am realizing that this post is getting awfully long. I know my last few have been, and likely my next few will be as well. I warned you that I had a lot stored in my head itching to get out! In fact, I have a list of about 10 topics for blog posts I want to write sitting right here next to me at the computer (I’m home now). They’ll need to wait. Getting late, early church in the morning, so going to sign off for now. Night!

(Oh, and to clear up something. Apparently my last blog post published three minutes before my big email import from Meal Train actually went through, so no one from that group would have gotten an email notification about it. Those should all go through now, although you should have received an email asking you to confirm that you did indeed want to continue receiving emails. If you didn’t see that, it may have ended up in your spam folder. Thank you for subscribing!)