What were the best things about my dad?

Apparently, on Sunday it’s Father’s Day in Sweden. I hadn’t kept up since sadly I lost my dad several years ago. In one of the local papers I found a headline that asked What is/was the best thing/s about your dad? So I thought I’d consider that for a moment.

My first answer is probably that he was quite nice and kind. Many people you meet are sarcastic and rude, but dad was usually very nice. He could tease you a bit, rather like a brother, but other than that I think he was really great.

From my point of view I guess it’s important that we had a lot in common and were quite a lot alike. He loved books and reading, for instance. Like me, he wasn’t very social, but I knew that when I needed help I could count on dad.

He helped me with my maths homework and was the only reason I got the grade I got. Without his help I would have done a lot worse. He drove me pretty much anywhere I needed to go except in later years (or when it wasn’t an outing he considered important). If I was depressed, or worried about something, dad always understood, because he’d been there (in a very similar situation) before and knew what to say to help me feel better.

I have already told my followers about the time I skipped a sports day in high school, because I really didn’t want to spend time playing some kind of ball game with my class mates (who didn’t like me very much and the feeling was mutual). My form mistress (?) who was in charge of that day called to check on why I’d been absent (this was when I was at least 17, so it kind of surprised me). My dad just got back from work and had no idea where I’d spent the day, but I came down the stairs and heard him tell my teacher about my ‘cold’ or ‘headache’ or whatever it was, so obviously he’d needed no prompting at all.

Thanks a lot, dad! There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t miss you terribly.

Whenever something new happens, like when Apple released the iPad or when we found out that we could ‘buy’ land on the moon or when Google started working on those driverless cars etc, I always think, dad would have loved this. The same goes for the fascinating discoveries on Mars and Pluto and so on. He would really have loved all that.

In a way, it feels as if dad hasn’t left at all. Some days I feel him close by and I hope that he’s able to keep up with all these new interesting discoveries. If so, have fun and enjoy it all, dad. 🙂