The Uncommon Life

A thank-you letter to dad

June 14, 2010

Father's Day

Dear Dad,

Thanks for hanging our artwork up in your office. Thanks for giving us money when we needed it and cutting us off when we needed to be. Thanks for not getting mad at us when we wrecked the car. Thanks for not only coming to our games, but coming to our practices too. Thanks for not yelling at us when we got in a fight at school. Thanks for putting our toys together every Christmas and every birthday. Thanks for holding onto the back of the bike. Thanks for never asking for directions – getting lost was the fun part. Thanks for teaching us how to drive stick shift. Thanks for taking us to that baseball/basketball/football game – just the two of us. Thanks for helping us convince Mom to get a dog. Thanks for teaching us how to fix the sink and change a tire. Thanks for teaching us how to do a flip off the high dive. Thanks for letting us learn things the hard way. Thanks for the treehouse/tire swing/rope over the lake. Thanks for being hard on all our high school boyfriends – they weren’t good enough. Thanks for giving us our first pair of cufflinks when we got our first real job. Thanks for walking us down the aisle. Thanks for calling to check on us whenever something  happens within a 100-mile radius of where we live. Thanks for being such a good Grandpa/Grandfather/Pop-Pop/Pee-Paw.
Thanks Dad, for everything.

Happy Father’s Day!

What do you want to thank your dad for this Father’s Day? Share with us in the comments section!

16 Comments

  • Reply Lisa June 14, 2010 at 2:13 pm

    I would love to thank my dad for being MY DAD! Without you daddy I wouldn’t be the strong, loving person I am today. I love you!!!

  • Reply Lindsay June 14, 2010 at 2:22 pm

    Dear Dad,
    Thank you driving 4 hours in the snow just to bring me chicken soup, magazines, and a heating pad when I was sick and threw my back out. I know that you’re about 15 hours away by car and 2 hours by plane, but if I ever needed anything you’d only be a phone call away.
    Love,
    Your little girl

  • Reply Josh June 14, 2010 at 2:44 pm

    Dad, I owe you for lots: custom wrestling moves, letting me join the football team even though you probably had the foresight to know it wouldn’t last very long, teaching me how to be tough yet gentle, preparing me well in advance for a receding hair line, and how to show someone you really love them through your intentions. Love you – and don’t forget I’ll always own you on the basketball court!

  • Reply Missy June 14, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    One of my favorite memories of my dad was right after my high school soccer
    team had won the city championship. Just as soon as the buzzer sounded, my
    dad leapt off the bleachers and came running onto the field to celebrate with us. He got about halfway across the field before he realized what he was doing and just started laughing (along with everyone else in the crowd).
    But that pretty much sums up my dad: he has always been, without a doubt, the biggest supporter in my life. From games to school to life changing decisions, his enthusiasm, encouragement and love got me where I am today.

  • Reply Genevieve June 14, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    Daddio:

    A digital bear hug for your brilliant, kind, and tireless support of my shenanigans. From letting me grind gears on your hard-earned sport’s car to putting me through college to buying food in bulk and mailing it my way every month without fail. Thank you for your love–and for sharing cigars with me every chance you get. I love you!

  • Reply Jessica June 14, 2010 at 3:40 pm

    I’ve been to a lot of weddings over the past few years. Each time at the sight of the father/daughter dance – the tears come and out goes a text to my dad. Varying messages of thanks and gratitude. I await the day that my dad gets to walk me down the aisle and I get to show him off during my own father/daughter dance. He is the kindest and most hard working man that I know. Not many men would date a woman with a baby – but he did. He ended up raising me without hesitation as if I was his own. I will never be able to thank him for how he has positively influenced my life.

    I can only hope that I will be as good a parent as he has been. Thank you!

  • Reply Marcus W June 14, 2010 at 4:58 pm

    I want to thank my father for helping make me he was never there for me he left my mother before i was born he is one man i can never acknowledge for anything besides leaving me alone and letting me become the man i am today that is what i want to thank my father for sorry every story cannot have a happy ending but i would like to end this by saying i would like to thank my mother for taking his place and doing everything she could to raise me.

  • Reply j.w. June 14, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    thanks for telling me I was smart and could do whatever I wanted with my life. thanks for taking all the money from my savings account when I was young (and both our names were on the account) and investing it so when I bought a house I had a large downpayment. you were an amazing man.

  • Reply Melody June 14, 2010 at 9:12 pm

    Dear Dad,

    Thank you for pretending to be tough but never really being that way…except when I truly needed it. Thank you for never letting me get away with not doing what I was supposed to. Most of all, things for never telling me that I could not do something and helping me to believe in myself enough to try..even when you knew I would fail.

    I miss you so much. You may not be here with me on earth any longer, but you are always in my heart.

  • Reply peg awald June 14, 2010 at 10:22 pm

    Dad thanks for working so hard for all of us, we had the best life and we always had a nice home, food, everthing we ever needed, I really thought I was a princess You always were home at night, you always fixed everything that was broken and you never asked for anything for yourself I could not have asked for a better father, although you are in heaven with Jesus you are always in my heart and just a whisper away I love you Dad

  • Reply pam June 15, 2010 at 10:04 am

    thanks mom, for being the dad too.

  • Reply Rebecca June 15, 2010 at 10:50 am

    I want to thank my dad for teaching me the value of critical thinking and questioning everything, even when it backfires on him!!

    I want to thank my husband for being the one to say, “I think we may be able to handle parenthood after all. Whaddayasay?” Our little girl is due December 13. I would never have been brave enough to suggest it myself, but with him as her dad, we’re going to be just fine.

  • Reply xbox 360 console October 24, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    All I can say is… please write more. OMG, it seems as though I watched a video instead of reading an article…it’s so sureal. You totally know what you’re talking about. My thought was, why waste your intelligence on blog posting when you could be authoring books? Think about it. You’re awesome at what you do. WORD!

  • Reply wenzvan November 23, 2011 at 2:42 am

    dear Dad,

    Thanks 4 all the effort that spend 2 our family….
    i love you dad.

  • Reply awesome dad December 13, 2011 at 1:09 am

    dear dad,
    i will thank you for giving me what i needed not wanted i love you dad and nothing can change that. merry christmas

  • Reply Doreen Cherf June 16, 2015 at 9:46 am

    My dad was the only man in my family with 4 girls to raise. We live in Florida and I had long red frizzy hair. My dad would get up in the mornings and iron my hair for me. This was before flat irons, but I will always love him for helping me overcome my frizzy hair problem. I will always love you

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