find
  Jennifer Sandquist
  • home
  • sHowS
  • Contact Me
  • sTudiO bLog

and i believe in you

6/19/2011

2 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
i was listening to late night talk radio recently and i heard something that applies directly to everything i want to say tonight about my dad.

"When I was fourteen my father was so stupid I could barely stand to have the old man around. But by the time I was twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in the last seven years."  -Mark Twain

it's funny how much you think you know when you're a kid. all that energy and will-power... you're ready to conquer everything... go everywhere... and you already have all the answers. i had this "problem" as much or more than any other kid. i was head strong and out-spoken... my dad and i butted heads a lot back then. i remember so many granules of wisdom he gave me over the years, that i thought to be completely wrong. and i told him so. by the time i was 18, my head and heart were so far from the tiny town i was anchored in, that i truly believe i wasn't even really there. 

fast forward 20 years of full on living on my part... i have been around the country many times. i have a really open mind and have lived a very open and eager life. i have friends from all walks of life. and i suppose if i am honest with myself... i have been several different versions of myself over those years. but in all of that searching and learning... i have found something to be true...  dad and i are kindred spirits. my opinions are often almost frighteningly parallel to his. 

dad still lives on the same dead end dirt road he grew up on. the one i grew up on. the one my grandparents lived on... not more than a mile from where his grandparents first settled their farm. the things he loves most... are some of those that i love most too. watching the clouds roll in on the night of a big storm. i've spent hours watching the sky turn crazy shapes with him in our backyard. he's the reason i wanted to be a meteorologist as a kid... he taught me, maybe by accident, to love fast old cars and open roads. he's the reason i feel ridiculously happy on a cool night listening to old country records. dad taught me to love and respect nature. he understands why i collect feathers and rocks... why every time i go home to visit i leave with my arms full of sticks and leaves... he is honest and loyal. he believes in hard work and values good old friends and his family. 

dad has romantic ideas about alternate lives... the two i hold on to most... wanting to disappear somewhere in the middle of alaska... build a tiny cabin and just be.... the other, driving an 18 wheeler for a living... nothing but the vast empty spaces of the west for an office. 

thank you dad, for taking me camping and fishing more times than i can count. for teaching me to dig my own worms and bait my own hook. for not letting me just say "ewwww" when i caught a fish but teaching me to clean them and cook them... for treating me just like you would a son. thank you for taking me backpacking in the mountains. for loving all the most beautiful and simple things in life...the things that really matter. it's taken me a lot of years to figure out what you've known all along. that at the end of the day... if you can have lightning bugs outside your window... food that you grew yourself... a happy tune on the radio... and someone you love beside you... there isn't much else to want for. thank you for trying so hard all these years to show that to me ... i understand now. and i love you.
Picture
Picture
Picture
2 Comments
Michelle
6/20/2011 12:14:11 am

That was beautiful, Jen. Your Dad is a jewel in the rough.

Reply
Michael Venske link
7/18/2011 11:34:48 am

Hells yeah! To dads!

Your post also reminded me of something similar I wrote about my dad (http://michaelvenske.com/blog/?p=594).

We still need to get that drink before summers out!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    the past

    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010

    RSS Feed

www.jennifersandquist.com