Today is Father’s Day, and I feel like such a turd because since we were all down for my brother’s graduation, none of us will be home for Father’s Day.  But in honor of the day, I will bring you an important story/memory I have of my dad.

That’s my pops there in the middle.

So my dad is a really good person.  Like he always tries to do the right thing, and that has been very very deeply instilled in me, and is probably largely the reason I went into a helping field.

So years ago, like maybe 14 or 15 years ago, we were moving into a new house.

The movers were doing an awesome job, and stayed late into the night moving our furniture into our new house.  They were sweaty, and tired, and seemed to not know very much English, and their boss-man, a white guy, had left them to their own devices.

Debbie came to me and told me that she had witness one of the guys desperately drinking water straight from the faucet in my parent’s bathroom, and that when she entered, that he’d startled, and looked frightened, as if he was sure that he was going to be in trouble for drinking sink water from the faucet in a rich person’s home.

I told my dad what Debbie had seen, and he immediately drove to the nearest gas station, bought a ton of Gatorade, and asked the men to please have a seat and enjoy something to drink.

As a young teen, for whatever reason, this small act of kindness made a big impression on me.

I certainly never felt like we were any better than the men moving our furniture, and my dad confirmed it for me.  The guys were hot and thirsty and scared to communicate it to us, so he took the bull by the horns and made sure that they were taken care of, and then sat with them.  To me, it communicated a few things.

• Be kind…
• …’Cause everyone gets thirsty
• You never know when you will be thirsty
• And you’re not better than anyone else.

A simple lesson, but it has stayed with me forever.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!