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I try to avoid certain peoples social media accounts on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day because they bug me in the worst of ways. “Thank you mom for being both my mom and dad” they say or “thanks dad for stepping up to be both mom and dad”. Let’s just upset everyone right off the bat shall we? Your mama can’t be your daddy and vice versa. For those that know me personally you know that my father died when I was a child. As much as my mom did, she could never take my dad’s place. My parents each had their roles and although numerous people stepped up to help no one could ever take his place. OK, now that we have that out of the way, let’s move on.

As you noticed I didn’t write about Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. I had originally planned to post on Mother’s Day and then realized, as silly as it may sound, it was hard to post about my mother without my dad. The same applied to Father’s Day. Technically I could have written something about them, but they were one and writing any stories about one always seemed to involve the other.  I’ll try not to bore you too many details you don’t care to know, but let’s chat about my parents for a moment.

Deuteronomy 11:18-20 
18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

My mom has talent upon talent upon talent. Seriously it’s kind of sickening. When she wants something she also has this amazing determination. I watched her go back to college and make a 4.0 in classes I wouldn’t have done so well in. Although I love music, music appreciation would have not gotten me an A, maybe a D if I were lucky. Let’s be honest, me hearing music and knowing what key it is in or what notes are being hit is never gonna happen. “Umm, was that in the key of Z, sir?” Yep that would have been me, not my mom though. She would listen to this cassettes each day until she trained her ears to know the notes. She is handy, like the washing machine broke and mom would fix it kind of handy. She would take me to lunch when my dad was in the hospital. She can paint beautifully and so much more.

My dad was an amazing presence in this world. He was the kind of man that when he walked into the room people took notice. Typically it was because they thought he was huge and scary, but they took notice none the less. He was the one that taught me to play sports and the rules of the game. He taught me how to protect myself. He was the type of man that when he said jump and you asked “how high” He was also the man that didn’t take advantage of that power. He was the head of our house and a leader all of my siblings and myself still respond to. Funny isn’t it? He’s been dead all these years, but what was taught is still very much in our hearts.

My parents taught us the most valuable lesson of all though. They taught us to love the Lord with all our hearts. They taught us that the Word of God was our light. They taught us that no matter what we heard, even if it came from them, that we were to compare it to the Bible. Generally though, my parents would open the Bible and show us scripture for our questions. It wasn’t just well, the Bible says… Nope, they pulled out The Word and showed us. As much as I love my parents and appreciate the many things they taught, that is one I will forever be grateful for. I’m not thankful just on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, but each day.