My Husband The Father

(This is a repost from a couple of years ago in which I honored my husband on Father's Day.)

Our children adore him and have utmost respect for him.
Hallmark card

Our younger daughter stopped by today with this card for her Daddy. She chose this card carefully. It represents memories she has of sitting on her Daddy's lap as a little girl in an orange chair we had at the time clutching her Teddy which after all these years still has its stuffing and is on display in her home. She had kind, loving words to say about her Daddy today...and about me. We thanked her. It felt good.

This is my husband with our first child Christina. See the warmth and pride he exudes as he looks at our daughter. Early in our relationship I recognized qualities in him that convinced me he would make a good father. I was not wrong.
This is my husband and daughter Christina again on graduation day...his graduation day from college. He worked hard to get his college degree. He obtained most of it while serving in the Air Force. After serving his time he had about a year left to go in order to finish his degree. But we had one child and another on the way. Still we decided it needed to be done. So, my husband took a job working the night shift at a local mental hospital so that he could attend college during the day.

A few weeks after our son was born, my husband graduated from college. Unfortunately I could not attend the graduation ceremony, because our son had serious health issues at the time and I could not leave him or take him with me. I was very proud of my husband though and shared in his joy and relief that it was over. A few years later our third child was born, a girl. She completed our family. Here we are all together, my husband, myself, our two daughters, Christina and Margaret, and our son Buddy.
My husband and our three children one Easter when leisure suits were the thing and most men were trying to grow beards in celebration of our country's bicentennial.
Our family portrait taken in 1983 when the children were all teenagers and in high school. Our son was all bulked up for football. As you can see, we are animal lovers with our two dogs and our cat. We couldn't get the fish to pose for the picture though. (snicker..)

This is a goof-off photo we took of our family the Christmas of 1985 with one of those cameras that has a timer and can sit on a tripod. I love this shot. I included it because it is an example of the kind of fun time we had together as a family when the kids were growing up. My husband and I did a lot of talking with our children about many things. He reminded me not too long ago about the summer nights all of us would spend outside on our patio talking and talking about everything under the sun...or maybe I should say under the stars.

Here we are together as a family in 1987 when my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. At that point our three children were in college. Not too many years later one by one our children started getting married and beginning families of their own.

It has been seventeen years since our first grandchild was born. We were privileged to be there to witness her birth. Now we have 14 grandchildren and my husband is the proud papa to all his grandchildren who love and adore him.

This is Papa (my husband) and our granddaughter Sarah. See the warmth and pride he exudes as he looks at our granddaughter.

This morning on the kitchen counter I had his oatmeal ready and waiting for him to come down to breakfast. I had his super-duper smoothie there which I make for both of us practically each morning. It is chock full of good things (apple, banana, blueberries, orange juice, protein powder,....yada, yada, yada) that I hope will keep us healthy and going for many more years. This Father's Day table-scape included the gift I gave him, which is one of those fancy fork thermometers he can use when he grills meat, and a Father's Day card.

The card I selected for him says it better than I could myself. It talks about how we watched as first steps became first days of school for our children. It talks about letting go and letting them grow, but with hearts that still hold them tight. It talks about how time flies and how here we are just the two of us. But what this card said that spoke to me the most is that he, my husband, is my home. So I signed the card "To a wonderful daddy and papa. You have always been the good father and you will always be my home. All my love..."

Happy Father's Day dear husband!