Dad
I have written this and changed it and let very few friends read it and changed it again. Only to rewrite it in its entirety.
Let me tell you the definition of the word integrity from the dictionary. “The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change”
Now let me tell you the definition of integrity in my eyes. It would be Jack Millan. My dad. My hero. He was exactly the same definition of integrity from the dictionary in human form. When we were young we saw him work so hard, but with such strong morals and ethics, I honestly didn’t know some people don’t have those qualities. If you want something-you work for it. You don’t take a shortcut, you don’t cut other people down to get it. You EARN it.
We didn’t always have a lot when we were younger. But I remember strong family values. We spent a lot of time with mom, but dad was working and when he was home, I remember steamroller, timber, bribes of a quarter to rub his feet and back, chocolate malts, the best omelettes, werewolf lane, failed ice skating rinks,sharing sorrentos cheese and sausage pizzas, and getting us a pool (probably his attempt to keep us outside while he was working from home).
He was protective of us. Not in a crazy way but in the best fatherly way. Requesting me to be home from a first date on New Year’s Eve at 11:15 one time. Keeping a bat under his bed to scare off Mandy’s late night window tapping visitors (ok-that only happened once that he knew of. Only Mandy knows how many times that really happened)….and then in adulthood…..still protective of us right til the end. He told his nurse he wanted us to be ok. So we’re going to do the hard thing and be ok.
Sometimes you don’t realize the importance of a simple moment until after the fact. I had a moment like that with my dad more recently.
I got remarried in June of 2023. And there was a moment now that just sticks out to me leading up to that huge step in my life.
On Memorial Day weekend my dad asked what we were dancing to for the Father/Daughter dance.
My response was the we had already danced in 1997 at my first wedding.
(Backstory-we had been joking for the year before the wedding that this was not my first marriage and I just kinda thought he didn’t wanna do the traditional stuff.)
Dad very quickly said he thought we should have a dance.
I didn’t know at that time that he was sick yet.
I poured over songs to have our dance to. I didn’t want any traditional father daughter dance song. I finally settled on one that I thought was fitting.
During that Father/Daughter Dance,
I cried. More than I wanted. By then we knew he was sick. I got a LOT of words of wisdom in those 3 minutes and 35 seconds. He approved of my new husband. He joked-I think-that Moe was contractually binded to me and there was a no return policy. He told me he was proud of me. That I was a good mom to the boys. And in all the times that I know I disappointed him, I knew in that moment he knew that I learned something from each and every time that happened.
So a word of advice. Dance with your dad.
He loved us. He took care of us. And he showed us that until the end of his time.
If you’ve learned anything from Jack Millan, let it be these 3 things-
Be proud, yet humble
Be kind, but have boundaries
And have a giving heart. Perhaps not with money, but with your time.
So Dad-in a throwback to our wedding dance and some words of James Taylor-how very very sweet it was to be loved by you.
