Friday Family Feature

Words really are inadequate to express how I feel about my father. This could be my hardest post yet.

My dad is Superman. Seriously, Larry J. (That's what we call him sometimes) is Superman. (Did you know Mallary is named after my mom and my dad's name combined? Now you do. Mary and Larry make Mallary. Hence the 'ary.' In high school I used to be silly and call my parents 'Malaria,' a different combination of their names.) Anyway, my dad is the greatest.

My Dad is a retired engineer. He was able to retire the year before I got married (I think that is when it was) so that he could take care of my mom. He may have been an engineer but he is seriously a Jack of all trades. Someone asked me why my Dad retired so early, and wasn't he bored? I laughed at them. My dad is crazy busy. He can also work circles around most people. Being as talented as he is, his skills are in high demand from his children. He could really start his own business doing contracting, carpentry, whatever, and he would have plenty of clients lined up to use him. I always assumed that when I got married I would marry someone like my dad who could fix everything. Well, you know what they say about assuming… I thought every dad was like my dad. Little did I know…

That's my dad, the Jack of all trades. He built his house, he cooks, he bakes (his current masterpiece: chocolate haupia pie, oh if you could taste it…), he makes great bread (it’s healthy too!), and he even cuts his own hair! (hee hee) I was trying to think of what some of my family's favorite things are of his to cook, and I know everyone would say pancakes because he makes the best in the world (but that is one food I do not enjoy, no matter who makes them, unless there are chocolate chips in them), and my niece would say crepes, and those are delicious too, but just look at this list that I came up with that I know are some of my siblings and my favorites:

Chipped beef and gravy
Biscuits and gravy
Turkey gravy for Thanksgiving
A different turkey gravy the next morning for breakfast.

I guess we like gravy, and he is the Master Gravy Maker.

My dad is also a safe driver. You may think it funny that I mention this, but if you know what kind of anxiety I suffer when I ride with my husband, you'd know how much I appreciate feeling comfortable in a car I am riding in. I can relax and rest easy if I am riding in the car with my dad driving. Maybe it is from all those years of observing him drive, he earned my trust or something. On long car rides on vacation, everyone would usually be asleep except dad and I. I don't know if I felt it my duty to help him stay awake (which he always did), but I would occasionally glance at the rear view mirror to make sure he was still awake and alert. I was giving him moral support even if he wasn't aware of it.

I was a real stinker of a kid and didn't get along with my mom until sometime while I was in high school, but I always had a close relationship with my dad. I know I'm his favorite (sorry siblings), and I even got a pendant for Christmas one year that said "I am Daddy's Girl," and I cherished it always. I even still have it. We have a special connection, and a while ago it seemed he was saying to me, "get out of my head," pretty often.

People will tell me I look like my father, and it makes me proud. Kind of like that country song by Jodi Messina with the lyrics, "I am Rose Marie's granddaughter, the spitting image of my father, and when the day is done my mama's still my biggest fan..." When I sing along to those lyrics I think of how proud I am to be my father's daughter. He is seriously the greatest, and there are just no words to describe how I feel about it.

My dad is pretty funny. At my wedding someone came up to me and said, "what a good idea to have food for the little kids." I responded with, "oh, I thought it would be fun," thinking she was talking about the otter pops that were supposed to be on the food table in champagne buckets. (We got married in August, and it was HOT and HUMID, I thought the kids would like them and they would be fun. I like them too...) A little while later, someone told me that the otter pops had been forgotten and left in the freezer at home, so there were empty champagne buckets on the table. "What was she talking about then, food for the kids?" I finally got to the food table and just laughed. There on the table was a nice soup tureen filled with fruit loops. My dad's little joke. (We call each other fruit loops in our family to let you know we think you're crazy) I think it's funny that someone thought that I would put a bowl of fruit loops on the table. My dad is so funny...

One of my main memories from family vacations are swimming in the pools at campgrounds or hotels. Isn't that funny? All the places we went and the things we did on vacations, and the pool memories stand out the most to me. Honestly, it seemed like most of those times my family practically had those pools to ourselves. What I remember most is being with my dad in the pools. We would hang around his neck, we would jump off of the edge into his arms, and he would wait for us in the deep end for when we wanted to jump off of the diving board. I knew I could trust him to catch me. I know he is still there to catch me if I need him too.

My mom once told me, "your father would do anything for his children or grandchildren," and he does. He helped me with my business and built my displays, even sat at shows for me selling hair bows. I know he would help us anyway he can. I wish I didn't have to share him with my brothers and sisters...

Here he is before Marianne's wedding reception helping with the food (that he mostly cooked) before he put on his tux. He says what he does are labors of love, and he shows us he loves us a lot. He will do almost anything for us, except maybe change a diaper... He will in "an emergency" though...

He is so wonderful and helps us all with our kids. He is a great grandpa (or Papa as he is called by our kids) and helps take care of them when he is around.

My dad with his first grandchild, Laurajane.

Dad holding baby Trevan

One of my most special memories is when Dad flew in after we had brought Trevan home from the hospital after he was born. My dad knocked on the door, I hugged him, walked him into the living room where Trevan was asleep on the couch and introduced him to his newest grand baby. The very moment dad looked at him, Trevan smiled in his sleep. My heart soared. It was such a touching moment for me to introduce the newest love in my life to one of the first loves in my life. It was a really sweet moment for me. After I had Trevan, my parents were there for almost three weeks taking care of me. I was so spoiled. My dad cooked all the delicious meals, and a lot of the new recipes he tried during that time are still some of my favorites.

Mom, Dad, & Mallary

Here's another one. I was scheduled to be induced, and my mom happened to be in the hospital at the same time. My dad was planning on coming down to help with the kids, and leaving her there (my sister and brothers and sister-in-laws were there to stay with my mom), and my brother called and told I me I should call and tell my dad not to come because he needed to be there with mom. So, I did., but he said he was going to come anyway. Being pregnant makes someone really emotional anyway, but my mom being in the hospital made me more emotional, and the thought of my mom not being in the delivery room with me made me even more emotional, and the thought of her not being here at all made me that much more emotional. I called and broke down on the phone asking my older sister to come. I probably cried for two days over this. My dad called and said he was coming, and that's final. So, the night he was supposed to come, I heard him pull up and I opened my door and saw someone sitting in the front seat with him. I didn't have my glasses on, so I couldn't see who it was, and as I got closer I realized it was my mom. I was so surprised, shocked would be a better word. Had I not been crying for two days straight I probably would have sobbed myself silly, but I don't think I had any water left in me, except the stuff my baby was floating around in. The doctors and nurses worked so hard to help my mom be here for when I had my baby. They let her come, and dad just gave her her medicine stuff through her IV. She did have to go back to the hospital after she got back a few days later. My parents have continuously shown me that we sacrifice things for those we love, and try our best to be there for each other to show them we love them.

I talk to my dad almost every day on the phone. That started when I went to college I think. Actually, it started before then, because we used to call dad at work all the time, especially when we were home in the summer. He is one of my very bestest friends.

He has been an amazing example to me my whole life. I have watched him serve and help others so willingly. He is the greatest example of what a husband and father should be like. There are no gifts, and words that I can give him that even compare to what he has done for me, or that can show him how much he means to me. I hate it, because everything seems so inadequate in describing how I feel, or showing him how much I care. The only thing that can come close, I guess, is telling him I hope I can be more like him, and that I want to teach my children to be like him.

Thank you Dad, for being who you are. Thank you for the unconditional love that you give. Thank you for being such a great father and example to me and our family. The world is a better place because you are in it.

I love you! You are the best! Seriously.

Happy Father's Day!