Sunday, June 17, 2012

Letter to my Dad on Father's Day



Dear Dad,
On this Father's Day, I want to thank you for being the first man in my life.  For being there to love and guide me through all my ups and downs.  For telling me the stories of your boyhood -- how you grew up in the Deep South picking cotton and raising hogs.  You were such a young man, only twenty-one, when you married Momma and started a family.  How difficult it must have been for you at such a young age, finding your way North out of the Jim Crow South.

To this day, I remember the lessons you taught.  How even in lean times, you managed to put food on the table and save for a rainy day.  What was it you used to say? "Your outgo should never be more than your income."  To this day I still use that simple economics lesson when trying to stretch my paycheck to the end of the month.

I can still hear you say, "Get a good education; nobody can take that away from you ."  So, with your encouragement, I went to college and earned two degrees.  You always said you were a man of your word; and you lived up to that creed by never making a promise that you couldn't keep. 

Every day you got up at dawn and went to work come rain or shine.  At night, you got down on your knees and prayed before going to bed.  Now, every day I go to work and do my best even when I don't feel like it.  And I pray morning, noon, and night.

If I have made anything of myself, it is largely because of you, Dad.  So today, I honor, praise, and thank you for being such a wise and loving father.

1 comment:

  1. Any dad would be proud of you, Hazel, and I am sure yours is proud of you. His DNA, thankfully, lives on. Love Don

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