Apparently December is the month for loved one’s birthdays for the authors of this blog. Today is my Dad’s birthday. He has always been the template for the man I wanted to be – strong, responsible, determined, honest, and dependable. If my Dad said he was going to do something – he did it. I can remember so many moments from my childhood where my Dad provided me and my brother a text book example of how to be a man. He met people with a smile a firm handshake and always looked them in the eyes. He was a man’s man as they say. Whenever I watch John Wayne movies, I think of him.

My Dad was blue collar and proud of the hard work he did, day-in and day-out. He literally worked sun up to sun down with little complaint. When he did something, he always did his best. He instilled that lesson in both of his sons. I remember one particular incident where he had asked me to sweep out the garage. I was a typical teenager and did a very poor job of it and then went to watch TV.  My Dad called me back to the garage where he proceeded to show me what a good job looked like, then he tossed all the dirt and leaves he had just swept back into the garage and stood there while I did the job the right way – to his standard. He made it clear there were no excuses to doing any job poorly. Which reminds me of my favorite quote – which I might have shared, but will share again because it reminds me of him.

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

That is my Dad. Happy birthday to a fantastic Dad and my role model.