Thanks Dad

Tomorrow is Father's Day and I've had my dad on my mind a lot today. I miss Dad and Mom a lot. My two sisters and I have been truly blessed with loving, Christian parents. Dad has always possessed a quiet strength and has always demonstrated his love through the sacrifices he has made to ensure that his children experience the best in life. He worked the majority of his life deep within the mountains of southern West Virginia as a coal miner. I'm proud of him and the heritage that has established and the legacy that he is passing on through us. I've never been ashamed of my Dad and he has been and will continue to be my hero.

He has always provided for us. I have memories of how stressful "contract" time was. Sometimes, miners would go on strike for weeks at a time as their unions fought for safer working conditions, better health benefits and fairer wages. And in typical Dad fashion, he would make a few calls and off he would go to work at gas drilling rigs so our family wouldn't have to go without. The recent BP disaster in the Gulf reminded me of the time that Dad had a near miss when the rig he was working on had an explosion. He has had several of those near misses in his occupation.

Dad never complained much about work and always had time to attend the activities my sisters were involved in as well as participate with me in sports and attend A LOT of games. We've also enjoyed many hunting trips and still laugh about the time I was chased through the mountains by a wild boar. We have sat on the banks of streams and lakes for hours on end fishing and have great stories from those times. Like the time when we were using Velveeta cheese as bait (trout love it) and Mom took a bite of the cheese. I yelled to Dad and many people around the bank heard me say, "Dad, Mom's eating all our bait." Of course they thought Mom was eating worms.

Dad and Mom made many trips to watch me play college football and during a conference championship game in Salem, the rain was horrific. Most fans either listened on the radio or stayed in their cars, but not Dad. There he stood behind the bench cheering me on and reminding me not to fumble the exchange with the quarterback. Dad got soaked to the bone as he watched us win our conference championship.

We've had memorable trips as a family to Myrtle Beach, Gatlinburg, Charleston, and Pulaski. We've laughed at how easy it is to scare Dad we giggle as he draws back his fist like he's going to whack you. We've listened to his crow calls, his "hooty-who," and the infamous "berrherrr." We enjoy his "two-two bats in the belphry ah ah.' We've joined him in his singing of the morning, like "We three kings of orient are," and "I've got friends in low places." We've blessed him as he sneezes (a minimum of 10 or so sneezes each time). We've cracked up at his sayings …like one my sister shared today. Apparently, Mom fixed a lot for lunch and Dad ate too much so he said, "Barb, I need some baking soda." "Baking soda? What in the world do you need that for Horace?" "So, I can rise up from this table." And just so you know "that's absolutely imperigoric." Oh yea and his proverbs and words of wisdom… like "Don't believe any of what you hear and only half of what you see," and "you can't hurt a man of steel, but you can pee on him and make him rust."

I could go on and on, but there's something for which I can never thank Dad enough and that is his spiritual leadership and guidance in our lives. We were raised to understand that Jesus loved us but it was simply not something shared verbally. Dad demonstrated the love of Christ through his own actions. Of course, Dad's not perfect…only one man has been…but he's pretty close in my book. I was taught a long time ago that "there is no success without sacrifice. And any time you see a successful person it's because someone sacrificed." I recognize that any little bit of success I've experienced in life, I owe to Mom and Dad and their sacrifice for me.

So, on this Father's Day weekend, I just want to say "Thanks Dad." You'll never understand how blessed Debby, Brenda and I are because of your guidance and influence in our lives. You area awesome and make life rich, meaningful and just plain fun. "Now study on that!" I love you! ~Your favorite son~