The Fathers in My Life

Yesterday was Father's Day and I thought all day long about the special 'father's' in my life.  I seriously thought of putting the pictures of Clyde and me with our grandchildren from last summer to thank our son-in-laws for being amazing fathers and husbands.  We are very blessed that we have such great men in our daughters lives.

I am thankful for Clyde and the father he was to our daughters.  Their Daddy Daughter birthday dates are still something that is special to each of the girls and him.  We - our family - for the most part had a pretty great time growing up together!

I am thankful for my father and for being there for me all of my life.  I am so blessed to have such a great man for my father.  Marianne, Bob and I had a pretty incredible childhood and even our teenage years were special because of Dad and his outings that were always educational and wonderful.  I have been blessed to have a father that is so firm in the gospel and truly gives his all for the Lord's work.

I had 2 incredible grandfathers.  Grandpa Brugger was amazingly patient.  He was a man that knew the Book of Mormon so well that when he was blind, he could tell you where he was in his old set of scriptures - and he would be right.  To know by feel is a pretty intimate knowledge of that sacred book.  He was the only one who tried and tried to help me with my math (we didn't know it was a learning disability until long after his death).  Grandpa Brugger is also the one that patiently sat with me as I learned to read.  He would actually suggest that we read together everyday that they visited.  For some reason, I could not read 'look'.  I had a picked up reading really quickly but that was one word that stumped me.  When I brought a worksheet home from school one time with that word on it - Grandpa drew glasses on the two o's of every look on the paper .  For the first time it made sense to me and I remembered.  It was such a simple thing and yet so filled with love.

My Grandpa Tuttle was also incredibly patient - but where I never saw Grandpa Brugger  mad - made Grandpa Tuttle got so mad at me that he lost it.  I don't blame him.  When I was 4 years old, I was on his shoulders and saw his bald head and bit it!  I think he was startled more than anything else.  He threw me on the couch in the kitchen and stormed outside.  About an hour later, he came in and apologized to me.  I had been lectured by every adult in the room about how horrible I was - but Grandpa said he kind of understood.  He would probably want to know what a shiny bald head tasted like too!  Both of my grandfathers were active in the gospel and frequently went to the temple. 

My father and grandfathers set the benchmark on the kind of man that I would want to marry.  I am blessed to have a found a man that to him the Gospel is an essential part of his life.  I am blessed to have these incredible men in my life.