Fathers day

The measure of a man is often times more defined by his peers than his own code. Dad's code was very simple. It was summed up in a few short phrases. Integrity was the standard. Al Hines did not lie. If he told you that a turtle could pull a plow... You'd better hitch 'em to it. If integrity was that standard then his affable charm and gregarious nature was his flag. He never met a stranger. He loved to meet new people. In a room full of people he would know all the names in just a few moments and most of the kid’s names too...

If the truth be known as many of you know while he might 'like' you when he met you, he loved children. Every size and color he just loved children. Growing up as his children and then young adults was never dull. He was not always easy to deal with but he was fair and very hands off. He raised us brothers with two rules. Rule One: Do NOT embarrass me. He would say, "Up until now your last name is an asset. Now it is yours to do with as you choose." Rule Two: Do NOT upset your mother. For any of you who knew our mother this became the one guiding rule that could get you in more trouble, more quickly, from more directios and with the direst consequence you can imagine. The most feared phrase in our house was Mom threatening, "Don't make me tell your Dad!" That was even more dangerous than the flying pink house shoe.....

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The marker that a man sets out is often unintentional. For most young boys a father is the one indelible mark. You gauge and measure yourself against them every day and in every way. Many times you strive to emulate them and in others you "wind up" emulating them. Sometimes it is by embracing their examples and others by avoiding their mistakes. Either way, it is inevitable that every man becomes a measure of his father. ....

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As markers go "Hero" is the biggest and he will always be my hero. I don't think he would have liked that word much but it fits nonetheless. As boys we always expected him to rip off that three piece suit, his clothes were always just so, and out pops a cape. For our eyes it never happened but in my minds eye I can see so many times when it did. As he fiercely protected his family, as he looked after his siblings, as he sat with our dieing Mother, as he rescued us brothers and in the end as he finally did his last task. He took his last little tour of Excel and then laid down and went to sleep. He will always be my hero.

Happy Father's Day Dad, we miss you!