Life lessons.

So, when you get married, a lot of great things happen.  But some not so amazing things happen too.  Like, your family takes awesome vacations without you, and you get to sit at home and be depressed because they are having an amazing time and you are at home watching top model and drowning your sorrows in strawberry shortcake.  Just kidding.  Maybe. 

Anyway, today is my dad's birthday--the first one ever I haven't been there to celebrate with him.  So, in honor of the amazing person that he is, and in the spirit of trying to lay off the shortcake, I thought I'd blog about some of the highlights of what I have learned from him.

The world is run by tired people.  {I hear it's going around}

If you say you're tired, my dad has two responses.  "I hear it's going around," and "Well, the world is run by tired people."  This is strangely motivating.  So, I'm sorry, but if you're complaining to me that you're tired, my thought are probably somewhere along the lines of, "Buck up, sunshine, you're not the only one who's tired."

Work hard and do what you want to do. 

My dad is the hardest working person I know.  He is also one of the greatest dreamers I know.  Nothing is impossible, if you ask him.  Start a church with only 3 other people in one of the most unchurched areas in FL?  Done.  Need to buy a church building but don't have any money?  Not a problem.  Get sued because a creepy cult has the same name as your church? Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it.  My dad has such faith that if you do what you're supposed to do, then what's supposed to happen will happen, regardless of how crazy or impossible it seems.

Over the years there have been tons of things I have said I wanted to do.

I want to change my major. {oh and that'll probably cost another few thousand dollars}
I want to write a book.
I want to start a blog.
I want to move to New York and do a journalism internship.
I want to start a business.
I want to go to another country.

Do it.
You have to do that.
Oh, definitely do that.
Do it.  How can I help?
You can do it.
You should do it.
Definitely.

Not "Oh, and how are you going to do that?"  Never " Yeah, that's not a great idea."  Not once "You can't do that." Always, "You can do it, you can do it, you can do it."

Be whoever you want to be and don't worry about what anyone else says. 

Over the past seven years, I cannot even count all of the mean things I've hear said about my dad.  In the line of work he's in, it's unfortunately very common.
People have said things about him that have made me so angry that I literally feel like my heart is on fire, so I feel like the appropriate thing to do is to retaliate with all that I've got. {Say whatever the heck you want to about me, but say something about my family?  Yeah, we're done.}
His response has always been the same.  A nod.  A "hmm, well."  And then back to whatever he's doing and he does not bring it up again.  He takes everything with a grain of salt, because again, he believes that if you're doing what you know you're supposed to be doing, it doesn't matter if anyone else has a problem with you. I have never once seen him retaliate against anyone who has said anything about him.  It's downright inspiring, let me tell you.

Enjoy Life. 
"We're not allowed to get offended."
"I decided not to get stressed anymore."
"I don't believe in being overwhelmed."
And it's as simple as that.

Enjoy life because it is short and was made to be lived, not tolerated.

Genuinely good people are extremely hard to come by.  I just happened to be blessed with having one as a father.  Here's to you, pops.



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