Thank you to my dad on Father's Day

I was very lucky to have really good parents and sister too. I grew up in Iowa and my dad was a barber. My mom was a stay at home mom and spent her life making a nice home for my dad, my sister and I. My dad worked very hard all day in his barbershop cutting hair in the basement of Hotel Burlington. All day, he had no outside light and only saw the people who came there to get their hair cut. One time when the shop was flooded and he stood on boards to keep cutting hair. He was honest, funny, and great at cutting hair. It was and still is his passion. He is 85 years old and still cuts hair in his garage for his neighbors.

My dad taught me a lot about small business and entrepreneurism. He had me shine shoes in barbershop when I was 12 years old. I saw first hand how a business was run. He bought and sold homes and had rental property that he maintained. He bought and sold cars. I loved to go to the used car lot with him and I learned a lot about cars and love cars to this day. I have sold many cars myself throughout my life. I also love real estate.

He was frugal with his money and enjoyed retiring at 50 years old to Arizona. He always liked fishing, bowling, and playing pool. He is a very social people person with a good sense of humor.

He taught me many things I needed to know and did not particularly want to know like how to wash windows, fix a toilet, bait a fish hook, wax a car.

My dad made it a point to be home for dinner so we all could have a nice meal together. We spent many evenings on the porch swing watching cars go by or driving around our small town looking at homes.

We drove to visit my grandparents over 400 miles away at least twice a year. He would work all day and then drive 400 miles, stay for 3 days and drive back.

My dad never took off more than 4 days in a row, except in 1965. He took our family on a car trip to New York. We viewed Niagra Falls and also went to the 1965 World's Fair. This trip was life changing for me to see the country was much larger than I had a clue.

My dad always took care of what he had. He was religious and practiced the golden rule. He treated people like he wanted to be treated and worked hard to help the unfortunate. He helped one guy who shined shoes for him get a driver's license and a job in maintenance at a school which he held for his whole life.

These are a few reasons I want to thank my dad today. I am grateful for such a wonderful dad and family.