Meet My Hero

My husband is a saint.  He is one of the most selfless people I know, unceasingly giving of his time and attention and sacrifices to his family, especially to his sons and to his aging mother who lives two hours away.
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I wish that my two older sons could be here this weekend to celebrate the wonderful father that he is, along with my youngest son.  A full-blown, bow-down, blowout bash of a honor, love and kudos. He deserves that glory and attention.  That royalty. Because he is royalty. Zach, my oldest, will soon be 27 years old, old enough to appreciate the depths of his love and sacrifices over the years. And Gavin, at 23, yes, he gets it too and never misses a chance to express his gratitude to his dad on his own initiatives and at just the right times.

Just this morning, my youngest son is scheduled to take the ACT exam, needing to be at the test site by 8 a.m....and there is his forbearing father, urging him to hurry, hurry, c'mon, hurry up, you're going to be late.  Me?  I would have blasted him by now; I have a tolerance thing that I'm still working on.  But his dad seems to muster the necessary patience to "just deal with it."  Sometimes I think it's a mistake, that he lets him get by with too much, bypassing those painful lessons we learn from our mistakes in life -- my mom had no problem with tough love for the four of us!   But I'll let him steer this ship.

And when he finishes his test -- assuming he got there on time and they allowed him to sign in -- they'll travel two hours together to my husband's mother's farm, where they'll spend the next two days running the tractor, cutting grass, tidying up her yard and such.  Working?  On Father's Day?  When he should be relaxing and soaking up the pampering?  No.  He would have it no other way.  "It's what I do," he's said in defense.  And he's right.  It's what he does.  It's just who he is.  But at least he will have at least one of his sons with him on Father's Day tomorrow.  I plan to have a yummy dinner with his favorite dessert waiting on him when they arrive home tomorrow.

My husband...he deserves the best.  I want him to know -- really know -- what an outstanding man he is on Father's Day... how much he is appreciated by ALL of his family.  I love him for being the father to my sons that I never had.  And I give thanks for him.

(thank goodness I save their artwork!)