Dear Dad,

For Fathers Day this year, I made a list of the Top 101 things you've given me. In no particular order here they are:

1. My stubbornness
2. Sense of humor
3. To be respectful of others and to respect myself
4. Commitment to family
5. To show gratitude and appreciation
6. To tell Loved ones that I’m proud of them, no matter how small their accomplishments
7. The Importance of friends
8. A Love of the outdoors and all natural things
9. My cheekbones
10. My Timing
11. My Green eyes
12. How to Plant a Garden
13. Hot to Cook (esp. how to make Homemade bread, Spaghetti sauce, Lasagna, Foot Cheese Pizza, and Slump)
14. How to Fly Fish
15. To Work Hard for things that I want
16. How to get by on very little
17. To give second chances
18. To not be taken advantage of
19. To not let anyone walk all over me
20. Forgiveness
21. To always tell the truth
22. Integrity
23. Empathy
24. That enduring hardships builds character
25. Sacrifice
26. To Honor my roots
27. To know when to fight
28. When to stand my ground
29. When to accept a defeat
30. When it’s best to just let go and walk away
31. How to Play Set Back (High, Low, Jack, Game and 9-5)
32. To always keep a smoke alarm in my house, with fresh batteries
33. To always be there for my friends
34. That nicknames stick in our family like glue and no matter how much we dislike them, they are really just terms of endearment that we grow to love
35. How to Light a Fire
36. Pitch a tent
37. Change a Tire
38. Bait a hook
39. Thread a needle (at a hundred yards)
40. Stitch a hem
41. Row a boat
42. Swim
43. Tie a fly
44. Cast a Line
45. Fire a Shotgun
46. Call a Turkey
47. Play the Banjo
48. Skin a carcass (not that I ever would)
49. Catch a fish
50. Clean a fish
51. Filet a Fish
52. Go Craw fishing
53. Clam digging
54. Night crawling
55. Bull heading
56. How to identify poisonous plants and insects
57. How to avoid the pinch of a Hellgrammite
58. To tell direction by the sun moon and stars
59. Dock a boat
60. Drive a stick
61. To find the sound of baseball and boxing soothing because I used to fall asleep next you listening to it
62. How to pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again
63. How to Paint
64. How to do the Twist (Chubby Checker style)
65. How to slow dance (stepping on your feet of course)
66. To enjoy the simple things in life
67. How to make something out of nothing
68. How to live off the land
69. To confront my fears
70. To Love Food and eat every meal fully and heartily like it's my last
71. How to make people laugh
72. How to adapt to change
73. How to play fair
74. How to recognize Bullshit
75. How to be blunt
76. To challenge myself and others
77. To give my word and keep it
78. To say what I mean and mean what I say
79. That I won't always get my way
80. To love camping
81. That Men need space and I should give it to them
82. How not to nag a man
83. To stay true to what I believe in
84. That life is unfair and bad things happen
85. That you made some mistakes but you did the best you could and I Love you for it
86. How to tell the difference between a Flathead and a Phillips
87. How to squat and pee in the woods but be sure to check for Poison Ivy first!
88. How to skip a rock on the water
89. That Witch Hazel and Vaseline can cure just about any ailment
90. To grow Lavender for Luck and keep rosemary by my garden gate
91. That things can always get worse
92. That I am pretty
93. A vocabulary of strange little words like Scallywag, Helgrammite, Dink, and Tallywhacker
94. How to catch fireflies
95. That no matter what I do or don't do, you will always be proud of me
96. What will happen when someone says “Pull my finger”
97. How to husk corn and make soapy mustaches from the silky threads
98. To always be myself and not care what others think
99. To speak my mind
100. Listen to my gut
101. And Follow my heart