Da

When I was about 12 or 13 my father took me to see the Tony-award winning play "Da" by Irish playright Hugh Leonard. The play deals with Charlie's relationships with the two father figures in his life: "Da" (an old-fashioned Irish nickname meaning "Daddy" or "Papa"), his adoptive father, and Drumm, a cynical civil servant who becomes his mentor.

After the play, we went to dinner and I remember ordering jumbo shrimp. I even vaguely remember the dress I wore. I don't know why just the two of us went out for a night on the town, but I think my dad wanted to spend more time one-on-one with his kids and he thought I would like seeing a play. He was right. Being the 4th daughter and an introvert, I always got lost in the shuffle of our large family. So a night out with my dad was something special.

There are other things I remember -- how he gathered us all onto my parents bed and read us poetry. The times he took us hunting for arrowheads....telling us about the wildlife and foliage we saw as we tromped through the woods to get to the next plowed corn-field that was ripe for arrow-head hunting. The nights he took us snowmobiling across the moonlit river bottoms. How he never missed one of our basketball games or swimming meets.

I have enormous respect for my dad. He worked hard to support us. Taught us to love reading. Was (and still is) honest to a fault (if there is such a thing). Showed us how to have compassion for those less fortunate (until recently he served on the board of a homeless shelter, and mentored a young boy from the inner-city). He gives money away like it's water. And when my mother died, he picked himself up from his bone-crushing grief and was determined to get on with his life. He was -- and is -- the rock that our family needed.

I hope I have inherited his integrity, compassion, constancy, faithfulness, and wisdom. I love him very much and am so thankful I have him as a father.