I'm sure you were expecting another gushy "Here Are 3874868 Reasons I Love My Dad This Father's Day" type of article but the truth is, as much as I know my dad would love to read one of those articles, he already knows how much I love him and all the wonderful things he does!

My dad and I kind of frequent the same wavelength. We just understand each other. We can spend hours at the dinner table talking about history, politics, rhetoric or religion and neither get tired of hearing the others opposing viewpoints. My dad and I both value learning. I find this isn't a common thing amongst most father-daughter relationships. We have this need and longing for more knowledge in everything we do or discuss. To us, there will never be enough to learn and never enough to share.

Fathers are the people who shape us with little recognition. They are the ones that help us learn how to ride our bikes without training wheels. We may scream, cry and fall, but they help us pedal forward. Fathers teach us how to win battles by being the bigger person. Not every fight can be won, sometimes you need to accept defeat and move on. Fathers teach us how to plant gardens in our minds. They tend the soil of our thoughts and help bloom new ideas. Fathers teach us how to be silly. We can't be serious all the time, we need to laugh in order to live.

My dad taught me to be thoughtful and caring towards others. Learning at a young age that not everyone will agree helped me understand that it's ok to make mistakes and have different viewpoints from others. Everyone is different and has their own set of beliefs, all we can do is try to understand and listen to each other. While my dad may not be the best at communicating he is one hell of a listener. We both like to ramble on when we tell stories, taking forever to get to the point, but nonetheless, we listen to each other.

My dad was the one who would come home from work to be greeted at the door. Bombarded with hugs and giggles. He would lift us into his arms and carry us into the kitchen where mom stood waiting for her hug. I would run around his legs as he fumbled to put things on the counter. He would let me sit on his feet as he kissed mom hello, or a welcome home. And that's how our days came together. The table would be set, dinner on the stove, family in the kitchen getting shooed to go sit down, and then we sat, we ate, and we talked.

So I guess I lied in the beginning, this turned out to be a gushy article about how much I love my dad, but honestly, my dad is one of my best friends. I couldn't help but write an article about the things that make him the greatest dad. We may not say how much we love you every day, but we remember the little things and we hold them close to our hearts.