You will most likely read this tomorrow at work, in your office that overlooks the city you have travelled to – day after day, for more than 3 decades.

You travelled 2-3 hours every day to work this job.

We didn’t see you at breakfast because you rose before 6am and were out the door soon after.

Many times we didn’t see you at dinner either because you came in the door after 7pm.

Thank you.

For missing meals, for travelling so far, for filling the role of provider for so many years.

I remember the weekends.  You would mow the lawn, maintain our homes and our cars, grow a garden, and take us for drives.

We always got a treat in the middle of the drive, before it was time to come back home.

You started showing me the world beyond our front yard when I was so young, and I never seem to get enough!

Vacations took us further still – Kingston, Florida, and England – still I wanted to see more.

And I have, all with your blessing, giving me wings to soar.

You drove me to dance and let me live my dream until the dream changed to something else.  I still love to dance.

You drove me to church so I could learn the most important things about who I am – in Christ.

You cleaned the church for a time on Saturdays, to earn a little extra.  Karen and I rolled underneath the pews, played the piano, games in the gym, helped you a little, ate in the kitchen, climbed the trees outside, and became more comfortable with God’s house as a place full of fun and adventure instead of a program for an hour on Sunday morning.

You drove me to the airport after I ran a lap around the house – me so dramatic sometimes – you would have released me into God’s service that day – wherever it was He called me to go.  Turns out He called me back home, back to you, at least for a little while.

You walked me down the aisle with my mum beside you.  You gave me the blessing of my greatest adventure yet – being a wife to my Joshua and a mother to my Josiah, Caleb and Elijah.  You released me yet again to become more of who God made me to be.

You were there when a grandson went home way too early.  And you let yourself love him and you let him change you.  And you make the most of the time you have with the four other grandchildren God has given you.  You’ve pushed many a stroller and corralled many a grandson and played in the leaves, and watched them grow, and loved the one granddaughter in all her princess-ness.

You taught me to drive stick-shift (and promptly went home to ease your nerves with a little tobacco and alcohol!) and I’m positive this skill will come in handy someday in a jeep in a foreign land!

You step into my life whenever you can – now that I am 5 hours away (7 hours if you’re driving!) – and my life is all the richer for it.

You put up with me when I was intolerable, and rescued me from my own poor choices.

You have the heart of a wordsmith and when you write, I love to read.

You have been there for me, you have cared for me, you have given me roots and wings.

Thank you for being my daddy – I wouldn’t want any other.

I look forward to many more adventures, to time well spent and to watching you grow more and more into the man God made you to be.

I love you and Happy Father’s Day!

I wish I was there with you today!