10 ways my dad and husband have made me happy

While there are many reasons to thank the dads in my life, I thought that with the countdown to Father’s Day , I would say thanks and share some of the happiness the two of them—my husband and father of my children and my own father—have brought to me.

To my husband…

1. Thank you for loving our kids so much. True I may gripe, moan, complain and get irritated about having to compete for their attention, but truthfully, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

2. Thanks for dressing up in yellow wigs and clown costumes with our daughter, and racing Hot Wheels around with our son. You bring out their fun, silly sides and I love you more for it. (Also, thank you for not gender stereotyping our kids—for complimenting our son when he’s happily wearing a purple tulle tutu or inviting our daughter to play trains and throw a baseball around with you.)

3. Thank you for, without fail or patience, answering all of our daughter’s science and math questions. She’s a curious girl and thanks to the knowledge you feed her, she’s been known to utter: “I’m as hot as the centre of the earth!”

4. Thank you for being upset when our daughter had ear surgery that they only let one parent into her recovery room and then automatically invited me. I already knew it, but that reminded me about how much of an equal role you see us having as parents in her life.

5. Thank you for always making it home when I need you. Many days, when it seems I just can’t take their bickering over Lego anymore or the whining for another cheese-string snack, you come home just when I need you most.

To my dad…

1. Thank you for always being there to pick me up, without fail. If I was at a party, a girl scout’s night or gymnastics at my elementary school, you were there in the car at night waiting to pick me up and get me safely home. I always knew you would be waiting for me.

2. Thanks for being such a loving grandpa to my children. I love that you sit out on your back deck with them all cuddled up while they sing silly songs with you, or snuggle with you while they watch a movie.

3. Thanks for offering to pick me up from university every Friday night to come home for the weekend. I knew it wasn’t realistic at the time and you later admitted it was challenging, but I know what was behind the offer and that’s sweet.

4. Thank you for pushing me to go to university and paying for it completely. It wasn’t until later that I realized what a big sacrifice this was.

5. Thank you for welcoming my husband—and later children—with such love into your life. They’re a big part of my life and I’m glad they’re so much a part of yours too.

What do the men in your life make you most thankful for? Please share with us in the comment space below.

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