For my daddy...

Father's Day is in a couple of days, so I want to take a minute to say "Happy Father's Day" to my dad.

Aside to Dad: Your card is in the mail. The USPS rather unceremoniously came earlier than usual yesterday. Grrr... Because you know I'd never wait until the last minute to do anything or be late getting to anything. Huh uh ... not me! ;-) P.S. There's also a package that'll be there at a date thus far undisclosed by the company that's shipping it.

My dad is an entreprenuer, an inventor, an engineer, and a researcher. He keeps an old school drafting table set up in his dining room, and although it has been a while since we have been there, I'd be willing to bet money that he's working on a plan for something -- a non-gas-powered car engine, a subterranean house, a plan for harvesting timber -- I have no idea what it is, but I'm confident that something is in the works. He is a visionary.

Dad loves watching sports, day and night, but never has had much of an affinity for playing them. He eats a diet consisting largely of vegetables, most of the time uncooked, and nuts. That self-invented diet, combined with some internet-researched supplements and a little conventional medicine, helped my dad survive a rather ugly bout with cancer and a still-unknown pulmonary illness. Three times I had ER doctors pull me aside to tell me that my dad's x-rays showed that he likely would be here only a few more weeks, if that long. That was three years ago.

Probably the single greatest lesson I've learned from my dad is to keep learning. Keep asking questions. Keep researching. Keep dreaming. Keep working. Keep pursuing. Keep going.

Love you, Daddy! Happy Father's Day!