It was my dad’s birthday recently, which sparked a bit of reflection.

  1. What are the past situations where I’m grateful for having learned appropriate behavior?
  2. What positive qualities have I successfully incorporated into my own life?

Vanity purchases⌗

Ever since I was born, I’ve known my dad to only be extremely reasonable when purchasing things. Never flaunty or flashy always purposeful and value oriented. He buys a Honda accord and drives it for 150K miles. You’re not turning heads but the insurance is cheaper, same with the registration, and the maintenance is low. He has no desire to impress others with money or impress upon others that he has money.

Maintenance⌗

When my dad buys something of value, he maintains it. It doesn’t get destroyed, he doesn’t abuse it… he takes his time and understands what he needs to do to keep it in good working order and he does that. I think he takes a lot of pride in this.

He Values Experiences⌗

Rather than flashy purchases of tangible goods my dad will buy experiences. Taking everyone out and going axe throwing, vacations, or even just going for a walk. Time with loved ones is important. I still spend ~half the year at home. I’ve been trying to hike/bike as much as I can with him because I know there’ll be a time in the future where we don’t live close enough to do that very often.

Hard work⌗

My dad still works hard. He’s run business for half a century now… which is absolutely insane. I mean year after year, navigating a small business through five decades of changes, modernizing over time, and making it successful. After all that time, he’s still working hard. What an achievement, how many people can say they’ve successfully owned and operated a business for that long.

Integrity⌗

One of his biggest ideals has to be integrity. He hammered that home to us as kids. Do things with integrity. We had a “family constitution” plastered on the fridge in high school to remind us, and I think integrity was point number one hahaha. I guess it worked… I won’t forget it.

Social⌗

My dad will do a fair bit of listening in social situations, especially in larger groups. Not dominating or being overly loud. He knows when to interject, sometimes he’ll tell a story. One thing I’ve picked up recently is he never talks bad about anybody. He doesn’t like the Cardinals current quarterback, but other than that you’d never hear him just say something mean about someone. Not much good ever happens from saying mean things about people.

Health⌗

My dad’s had his fair share of injuries and health concerns since I’ve been alive. However, he’s always stayed active. Some of my fondest memories are out hiking, biking, rafting, camping, etc… with him.

Justice⌗

Whenever my dad hears about an injustice being done, he can’t stand it. He will go way out of his way to help someone out of nothing more than fixing something that is total bullshit. This is probably why most of the people who work for my dad have been there for decades because he won’t put up with any mistreatment whatsoever. I think this goes hand in hand with integrity.

Other⌗

He once showed me a list of things he wanted to accomplish in his life that he’d written down in his late twenties that I really enjoyed.

Buying a new bike as a kid, I really wanted a cruiser with flames on it. My dad said I’d be wanting a mountain bike after a few weeks on the cruiser. I ended up buying the cruiser, and I also ended up wanting a mountain bike after a few weeks. Ever since then, we agreed that if my dad says “bike” I know I need to deeply consider the decision I’m about to make.