Father's Day & all that jazz - or Rock - as the case may be

All day facebook has been full of Father's Day posts. All day I've wondered what I can add to the lovey dovey happy fb Father's Day Super Dad posts. A couple of hours ago, I left my Dad jamming with my oldest 3 boys in the Matson Music Room - guitars, microphones, amps & all. Pretty sure he gets the Coolest Papa award the same way he's always been the coolest Dad around town.

Here's a few things I've learned from my Dad:

A person can be both oober cool and good. By good, I mean righteous. My Dad may not look like your average run of the mill Mormon man. His hair is a little bit long. Facial hair, too. He uses Grateful Dead songs as teaching aids in Sunday School. At one point, he even had an earring. With all of that being said, though, he has never, ever been anything other than a great example of righteous living. He doesn't view being obedient to the commandments as a restrictions but as a way to be free of all of the junk that holds us back when we're not.

I guess the above also taught me that judging a person's worth or worthiness based on appearance is a stupid thing to do.

You can be angry and even scary without ever raising your voice. Ask anyone who has ever seen my Dad mad. It doesn't happen often but when it does....not good. Not loud, but not good either.

Sometimes to take care of your family, you go to a job you don't love and work with people you like even less. I'm not saying he never liked his job or the people he worked with - I'm sure that there were some redeeming qualities in both. I am saying that all of the "love what you do" stuff is maybe overstating it. Sometimes, we have to do stuff we can tolerate in order to do the right thing. He took care of us - always. Still.

If you want your children to love their Mother and more importantly respect her, treat her with love and respect. If there's one thing that will make my Dad mad, it's messing with my Mom. I've seen a lot of kids who don't have Dads or who have Dads that are losers or worse. Worst thing of all is how they treat the kids' Moms. And then kids treat their Mom the same way. We had a great example of respect and love. There's no way to overstate how important that is.

My Dad had an interesting childhood. That is one way of putting it. There are a lot of people who have had interesting childhoods and families that use it has an excuse. To make bad choices. To treat people badly. To be angry. My Dad has always taken care of the members of his family that needed it. Over the years, he's cleaned up messes that weren't his and shouldered burdens that maybe should have been shouldered by someone else. This is just how it is. What it is. How it works. Maybe people have pissed him off but I have never seen it. I have only seen single minded dedication to family.

I read all of the fb posts and know that there are some well loved Dads out there. I love mine, too, and am grateful for all of the lessons. But mine just jammed with my 3 boys in his own music studio surrounded by a mural depicting rock and roll greats. Who is the coolest? Still my Dad.