Happy Father's Day

There aren't many days that go by that I’m not thankful for my father, but on Father’s Day I’m especially thankful for all he has done. See my Dad had primary custody of my brother and I at a time when that wasn't the norm. He sacrificed in so many ways to make sure that my brother and I had what we needed even working two or three jobs at times.

When we were growing up we didn't spend a lot of time at daycares or with baby sitters we were dragged in to the door shop on Saturdays or tagged along from job-site to job-site on Easter Break. Sounds fun right? There wasn't an alternative so we went with him and tried to stay out of the way. A lot of the things we did as kids like tagging along with parents would get parents in trouble now a day. Fun for us on those days was nailing two pieces of door casing together to make an “Airplane” (yes that means using a hammer at 6-7 years old) and that was WAY better than the other alternative of sweeping the shop. Over the years as we grew older our jobs changed, we edge banded shelves for cabinets, cleaned job sites, emptied the office garbage cans, carried tools, and started helping install cabinets all before we were teenagers. You may be thinking that sounds harsh and it felt that way a lot of the time but the skills I learned over those years I still carry with me today.

Thanks to my Dad I have what I refer to as “man skills” (something I believe is lacking in our youth these days). Whether it’s working on cars, lawn mowers, wood working, laying tile, or designing kitchens and baths I learned it all because of John Parcels. Times weren’t always easy and most often my birthday parties were getting to pick out what I wanted for dinner from the grocery store and a cake from the bakery, I was pretty darn lucky to have him. He says he knows that I love him and rarely lets me give him a hug but I love him more than he knows and have the utmost respect for my Dad. A true man’s man and great provider for his family.