Dads

Did you ever read The Luckiest Girl by Beverly Cleary?  It's about a teenage girl who spends a year in California and feels out of place but then dazzles everyone with her knowledge of donut holes.  Everything Beverly Cleary touches is magic.

I digress.

I very often feel like the luckiest girl (minus the donut holes, but I do like donut holes).

We didn't really do much to celebrate Father's Day. (Although Mark got the little bag of chocolates and caramels the YW handed out after sacrament meeting.  Gluten free!  It was an everybody gets a trophy situation because they had every male over 18 stand up to get one.) Adam was on the road for work.

I did talk to my dad on the phone a little.  I'll never not love that he's my dad.  No one (except maybe my mom) has as much confidence in me.  For example, the excavator...  My whole life, if I've ever told my dad I can't do something, he has said, "Sure you can."

He is an example of goodness, has blessed our family with his priesthood power and authority, can fix anything (seriously), is very witty and generous and kind.  

The luckiest girl.

Marrying Adam is the best thing I've ever done.  He is a gift to me and to our kids.  He has a masters degree in International Relations that he doesn't use specifically in his profession (besides he's a smarty pants thinker and writer which are skills he honed with his education), but he said one time that maybe he got the degree for Braeden.

Braeden is studying political science and from very early in his life, he and Adam have talked about politics and governments and current events.  Adam would never let Braeden get away with an opinion if he couldn't back it up.  

Adam and Emma have a bond that I just love.  He has always been able to convince her of things I had no chance with.  Probably she could convince him of things I had no chance with too.  They are a lot alike and dive deep into topics.  They enjoy their time together and understand each other on a cellular level.  (I think Emma is also maybe the luckiest girl.)

Braeden is immediately easy for me to understand and Emma is immediately easy for Adam to understand and Mark is...Mark.

Adam has invested time to be close to Mark.  He listens carefully when Mark explain his interests.  He persists and asks questions until he understands.  (Sometimes it sounds like the adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon and I back away slowly.)

I appreciate the way Adam works hard to be a good dad.  He has always provided the necessities of life but also spontaneous fun and opportunities to see more of the world.  You can't be Adam's child and not know how to swim in a river, argue a point, read with expression, or road trip like a champion.

I appreciate the way Adam is the best possible partner in parenting for me.  He helps me chill out (which I need, often).  He understands how I feel and I 100% know that he cares about them as much as I do.  That is a gift all its own.

Another dad who is ever present even when he isn't is Adam's dad, Linn.  We miss him.  We are still blessed by him.  I know Adam strives to be like him and that makes me happy.  At the recent funeral for Shane, Adam was asked to give the family prayer.  In a different decade, Linn would have been asked to give the family prayer.  I love that Adam is like his dad.

Speaking of which, Adam rarely posts on his blog, but when he does, it is always so very good.  He wrote this about his dad.

I'm the luckiest girl.