In Honor of Father's Day

So I thought that since Father's Day is this Sunday, I could write a little bit about my hero...my Dad! I know most girls consider their dad their hero, but my dad really is. He is one of the greatest people I know. Here is a picture of him and me from a couple of years ago.

My mom and dad were high school sweethearts. They married when my mom was almost 21 and dad had just turned 22. I was born 18 months later. When I was almost 4, my mom had twins, a boy and a girl.

My dad and mom when I was Baptized in 1986...my dad looks so young (and proud)!

When I was 12 years old and the twins were 9, my mom was 8 months pregnant with another baby boy. On December 6, 1998, my mom suffered a brain anuerism and died. The baby, little Daniel Liam, lived for a few more hours and then joined my mom in Heaven. I had always loved my dad and admired him, but when this tragedy occurred, that's when I knew my dad was the most amazing man in my life. Even that night, he showed incredible courage, bravery, and faith. He went with my mom to the hospital, came home and told us kids what happened, and then went straight back to the hospital to spend whatever time he could with Daniel. My dad was able to stay strong and hold Daniel in his arms and tell him all about his awesome mom and siblings until he took his last breath. I know it was a whirlwind night for my dad and I am just so inspired by his strength.

After my mom died, all of our lives changed, as expected. My dad was never an absent parent, he was always involved in our lives, but he was definitely the typical working father and disciplinarian. My dad was immediately put into the role of mother and father. I turned 13 two weeks later and stepped into a motherly role as well. My dad and I worked as a team to make sure everything was taken care of (homework, laundry, meals, etc.). I helped schedule doctor appointments and kept a calendar of all the activities we were involved in (soccer, dance, religious education, etc.). I think that a lot of men would fall apart being a single dad, and I know it was probably a struggle for my dad, but he never let it show. He took everything in and went with it.

Today, my dad is remarried. My step mom had 2 children from a previous marriage and she and my dad had a son together. That's right, a total of 6 kids...3 boys, 3 girls. Many people call us the Brady Bunch, but our life together definitely did not run as smoothly as the Brady house and we don't have an Alice :) 

This is all of us "kids" Sean (8), Adam (21), Bailey (18), Me (25), Philip (21), and Hannah (21). The last 2 are the twins. Adam, Philip, and Hannah were all in the same kindergarten class. Yes, my stepmom and mom knew each other. That's how she and my dad began dating...my dad began going to school events, church, birthday parties, and sports games and kept running into my stepmom at everything. While there were some issues at first, we have all come together and become one big family.

Well this post is becoming more about the family than my dad, so I'll finish it up. All in all, I just want to say Happy Father's Day to the greatest dad in the world...Mine!