Five Belated Gratitudes for Dad for Father's Day 2026

Five things I am grateful for from Dad

1. Dad taught me how to drive.

2. Dad was generous in the gift of his labor: When I left home, he painted my new apartment for me.

3. When I bought my house, Dad gave me power tools: a sander, a saw, a drill.

4. Dad spent weeks one summer helping me renovate the attic to make a bedroom/playroom for Lavinia, my daughter, including taking out the pull down ladder and buildig a staircase to the attic.

5. The morning he found me on the porch when I had left my marriage, Dad drove me to college to complete my course so I could graduate.

6. Dad gave me good advice when I asked for it.

Being a parent is a difficult and thankless endeavor. Your only acknowledgement is that your offspring survived and grew up to become independent and self-sufficient. We had a stormy relationship, but Dad did the best he could, always! He was an interesting and complex person. He survived the Depression, the CCC, World War 2, and a brutal, dangerous industrial career as an Ironworker, and devoted Union man.

Dad died of heart failure in his home in West Virginia, sitting in his recliner in 2011, aged 89. Happy trails Dad, wherever you are - wrightj45@yahoo.com