Because he was THAT kind of dad.
He was not a dad to fear, although I had a healthy respect for him. And he demonstrated respect for his seven children, too. I think that's what made him such a wonderful dad. He was a man of few words, but his actions spoke volumes.
Most of my teen years were spent on our small family- owned mushroom farm in the Fraser Valley. Dad wanted our input on what to call this new venture (we chose Meadowview Mushroom Farms) and while my dad and oldest brother ran the farm, all the other older children and my mom helped to make it work, too.
When Dad first bought the farm, he couldn't afford to hire too many people, so we worked A LOT! After school, weekends, and sometimes even during school. Sometimes we worked well into the wee hours of the morning, picking mushrooms at their prime. If not, they would 'open' and be relegated to 'second grade' and we wouldn't be getting top dollar for them. My dad couldn't afford to pay us for our work that first year, but when that second year rolled around, he asked each of us what we would like to have as a thank you for all the help we had given him. I asked for a horse. And I got one.
He was THAT kind of dad.
When I graduated high school, I decided to work full time for Dad for one year before going on to university. Why wouldn't I want to work for my dad? He was the BEST BOSS EVER. And my mom made our coffee breaks the best, too! (coffee, cookies, and conversation in the kitchen twice a day! )
By that time I had been working part time for several years, and making decent money, too.
He was THAT kind of dad.
He had hired a crew by then, including a couple of my girlfriends. One day Dad told me he had decided that paying us by the pound, rather than an hourly wage, might be a better way to go and would perhaps increase productivity. My girlfriends and I didn't like that idea one bit, for several reasons. It would increase competition between us (fighting for the most loaded mushroom beds, for one) and take away from the joy of working together. So, we promptly formed a 'union' (in jest), ordered matching bright yellow T shirts with a huge mushroom decal on the front and the words: I must be a mushroom...everyone keeps me in the dark and feeds me B.S. It's true! We really did this and my dad got a good laugh out of it. We presented my dad with reasons why getting paid by the lb. wasn't really a good idea at all. And Dad changed his mind. He respected us enough to rescind his decision, even if it might have not been the best financial decision for him. My respect for him just kept growing.
He was THAT kind of dad.
I have lots of other reasons why my dad is still in the GREATEST DAD EVER league, but this is what came to me as I was thinking about my dad yesterday.
Last week we took a quick trip over to Alberta to see my parents and I got a huge hug from my dear Pops. The drive was worth it :)
What a gift to have THAT kind of dad!
